PENSACOLA, FLORIDA: Cynthia Hoover, a Florida woman was brutally hit in the head with a hatchet by a 62-year-old man who then buried her dead body beneath a burn pit in his backyard.

For the 2021 murder of Hoover, Johnny Edwards Malisham was ordered by Santa Rosa County Circuit Court Judge Clifton Alan Drake to serve a sentence of 25 years in a state correctional facility, reported Law and Crime.

What are the charges against Johnny Malisham?

In September, the murderer pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon convicted in another state and one count of second-degree murder.

He was sentenced to 15 years for the former charge which will be served concurrently.

On March 15, 2021, the victim's family first reported her missing a day before her vehicle was discovered abandoned on the side of the interstate, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Hoover's family told authorities that she typically remained in contact with them almost every day, but was not reachable for several weeks.

What led police to Johnny Malisham?

For nearly two months, the victim remained a missing person. Later, the sheriff's department in Butler County, Alabama received a call from a tipster saying that Malisham "killed Cynthia Hoover with a hatchet and buried her in the backyard of his residence underneath a burn pit."

The tipster claimed that Malisham attempted to get assistance from his neighbor for burying Hoover's body and stated that he abandoned her car before he was picked up by another friend.

Investigators interviewed the neighbor who recounted the events of the evening of the murder and revealed to them she knew about the killing.

"Johnny [Malisham] told her that he killed [Hoover] by hitting her over the head with something. [Malisham] told [the neighbor] that he hit her so hard it cracked her skull open," stated the affidavit.

"Malisham told [the neighbor] that she had better come be his lookout while he buried her in the backyard or she would regret it," the affidavit added.

The neighbor told investigators that the victim's body was dragged down his steps and she "couldn’t handle the sound of Hoover’s body hitting the steps" so she "ran to her house and locked the door."

What was Johnny Grisham's motive behind killing Cynthia Hoover?

The neighbor claimed that the murderer told her that he killed Hoover because "he thought she was trying to steal from him," though the history between Hoover and Malisham remains unclear.

Authorities executed a search warrant at Malisham's house and they found blood spatter consistent with severe blunt force trauma injury.

Hoover's body was discovered after cadaver dogs detected human remains buried beneath the burn pit in the murderer's backyard.