OFFUTT AFB, Neb. — The fate of a Nebraska airman from Valdosta accused of murder, now rests in the hands of his superiors following a hearing last week.

Airman First Class Timothy Wilsey, 20, was arrested in August and charged with the death of Airman First Class Rhianda Dillard, said Drew Nystrom with the 55th Wing public affairs office at Offutt AFB in Nebraska, where both airmen were stationed. 

Thursday, Wilsey faced an Article 32 hearing at Offutt, similar to a preliminary hearing in civilian law, Nystrom said. The wing commander will review a report from the hearing and decide whether to pass the case to headquarters level, where a decision would be made on holding a court-martial, he said.

If convicted, Wilsey could face three years in prison for desertion and life without parole for murder.

Dillard, 20, was found dead in her dormitory room at Offutt in Nebraska Aug. 1, said Nystrom. She was a cyber systems operation specialist assigned to the 55th Strategic Communications Squadron at Offutt who arrived at the base March 14, he said. Wilsey was a member of the 55th Intelligence Support Squadron at Offutt, Nystrom said. He was not assigned to Moody AFB.

Wilsey was apprehended Aug. 11 in a hotel in Emporia, Va., by agents of the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations, assisted by the Greensville, Va., County Sheriff’s Office, according to an OSI press release. Air Force operatives had been sent to Valdosta searching for him.

At Thursday’s hearing, prosecutors said they had a handwritten journal describing Dillard’s death and that the handwriting matched Wilsey’s. An OSI agent testified the journal was found among Wilsey’s possessions when he was picked up in Virginia.

Journal entries reportedly described the incident in detail, suggesting the pair were sitting on her dorm room bed watching television on a laptop when Wilsey counted down three times, then placed Dillard in a headlock, sat on her and choked her to death, before leaving with some Oreos, an observer at the hearing said.

Defense representatives questioned Wilsey’s mental competency at the time of Dillard’s death. They pointed out that Wilsey’s DNA was not found under Dillard’s fingernails or on other parts of her body. They repeated requests to have another forensic psychologist and forensic pathologist involved in the case. Wilsey did not speak during the hearing.

The journal’s author said he chose the victim because he believed she had few ties to Offutt.

Emily Nitcher, a reporter for the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, contributed to this story.

Terry Richards is an editor at The Valdosta Daily Times.