Chad Smith

Before the man who confessed to killing her mother was sentenced two weeks ago, Sandra Jordan said she would throw a party if the judge sent him back to Mississippi, where he had already been serving a 150-year sentence for rape, robbery and burglary.

On Friday, she started planning. The news that Mark Dean Aldridge had been sent back had been a long time coming for Jordan.

“We can finally say now that we have a little bit of closure,” she said. “As much as we could get.”

She plans to extend an invitation to the whole community for the family’s celebration.

Just in time for Christmas, Mark Dean Aldridge arrived at the state prison in Pearl, Miss., on Sunday to be processed into the state’s prison system one more time.

In October, Aldridge confessed to killing Eva Lewis — Jordan’s mother and a St. Augustine gas station clerk. He reportedly had hoped to serve his time in Florida rather than his then-residence, Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, where inmates live without air-conditioning and are required to work on its farm.

Those hopes died Dec. 12, when a St. Johns County court judge sentenced him to life in prison in Florida — but only after he finishes his sentence in Mississippi, set to end on April 8, 2156, three months after his 199th birthday.

Lewis, 59, had worked at the station for more than 16 years and was working alone when Aldridge entered the store the morning of Nov. 27, 2001.

He shot her in a storage room (though he contends he tripped and accidentally fired the gun) before leaving with about $200 from the register.

He was arrested in Kansas less than a week later on unrelated charges.

Steven Jordan, one of Sandra Jordan’s older brothers, said he “couldn’t be more happy” after she told him that Aldridge had been shipped back.

In 2005, two men were wrongfully accused of killing Lewis and spent 18 months in the St. Johns County jail before the charges were dropped.

Other than that 530-day span, Lewis’ children had spent the past seven years not knowing who shot and killed their mother that morning. That was until Aldridge stepped forward, apparently hoping to be rewarded for his candor.

In the end, his confession was all for naught — at least for himself.

“It kind of puts your mind at ease to some point,” Steven Jordan said. “It won’t bring her back, but at least we know.”

As for Aldridge, knowing that he will likely die in a Mississippi prison gives Jordan about as much satisfaction as possible.

“He’s got to answer one more time yet,” he said. “That will be the most gratifying to me.”

A version of this article was printed Dec. 27, 2008, on Page 1A of The St. Augustine Record.