DeGasperin was convicted for the beating and shooting deaths of his pregnant girlfriend Lori Casteel and her four-year-old son Collin.

The jury deliberated for two and-a-half hours Monday night then returned for another hour-and-a-half Tuesday morning.

In the end jurors found DeGasperin guilty of three counts of second-degree murder and two counts of concealing the victim's bodies.

"It's a domestic violence situation gone to the worst extreme," said Preston County Prosecutor Melvin Snyder.

The jury of eight men and four women found DeGasperin guilty.

But prosecutors won't call it a victory.

"I don't think anybody can walk away and say they're happy," Snyder said, "at the end of the day you still have a dead pregnant woman and a dead little boy and a man basically who is probably going to prison for life."

Corporal Joseph Portaro, who served as the lead investigator on the case agrees.

"We had to have this day at some point no matter if we're thrilled with the decision or if we're not happy with this decision," Portaro said. "Sooner or later we had to have some sort of decision and come to some sort of justice for Lori and Collin Casteel and Lori's unborn child."

Defense attorneys claimed DeGasperin shot Casteel in self-defense and that Collin's death was an accident.

The prosecution was pushing for first-degree-murder. "We believe that what the defendant told everybody at the time the crime happened was the truth and the things he said on the stand did not make a lot of sense," Snyder said.

Following the verdict I tried to talk to the families.

Both sides declined to comment.

The Casteel family told me they just weren't ready - it would be too hard.

"They've had their hearts broken," Portaro explained, "and I don't know that you can ever totally recover from that."

Immediately after the verdict DeGasperin was taken back to regional jail.

He will be sentenced August 27.

He faces 32 to 140 years in prison.

Meanwhile the Casteel family is planning a memorial to Lori and Collin.

Lori's sister, mother, cousin and friends spent time this morning cleaning up a flower bed outside the courthouse.

It's practice for the memorial garden they're planning and a way to give back to those who supported them through the trial.

The memorial garden will be located in Hazelton on Casteel's parents' property.

It will include the garden, pavilion, basketball court and a rock cave.

"I think it's really part of the healing process," said Katie Cunningham, Casteel's middle sister.

"Our hope is that people in the community will come visit the park and years to come will say 'Well who are Lori and Collin Casteel?' - and it will help keep them alive even though they're not here in person."

Cunningham says they hope the garden will be ready by next summer.

To make a contribution to the "Lori and Collin Casteel Memorial" you can stop in at any Clear Mountain Bank Branch.