California ? A biochemist was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday in Fresno, Calif., for killing her estranged husband by knocking him out and stuffing him into a vat of acid, possibly while he was still alive.

Larissa Schuster was convicted in December of murdering Timothy Schuster with the special circumstance that the murder was committed for financial gain. At the time of his death in July 2003, the Schusters were in the middle of a divorce after nearly 20 years of marriage.

Just days after Timothy Schuster was reported missing, his half-dissolved remains – intact from only the belt buckle down – were found inside a 55-gallon barrel concealed in a storage unit his wife had rented.

Kristin Schuster, the couple’s adult daughter, told the judge that she felt safer knowing her mother would be behind bars.