A Pullman man was convicted of raping and murdering his estranged 25-year-old wife last spring as she tried to conduct a remote job interview.

Jamie Wilson-Spray, an aspiring chef, was killed the evening of March 26.

After deliberating for about four hours, a jury on Thursday convicted Jacob Spray, 36, of first-degree rape and first-degree murder in her strangling death.

"The Pullman police department worked tirelessly to find out what happened to the victim on March 26, with help from the Washington State Patrol Crime Scene Response Team. Without their efforts and the cooperation of countless citizens this verdict could not have been reached," Whitman County chief deputy prosecutor Dan LeBeau said in a news release.

Wilson-Spray had been on the phone for a job interview with Spokane's Women and Children's Free Restaurant and Community Kitchen when its executive chef testified at the trial that she suddenly heard the 25-year-old scream.

"It was a scream I will never forget," Melissa Berry testified last week.

Wilson-Spray was three weeks out from completing her master's degree at Washington State University. Police found her body around 7 that night, a pizza she had ordered just before her killing left uneaten.

Spray, who cooked for a Pullman sorority, now faces 20 to 26.5 years in prison after he's sentenced by Judge Gary Libey on March 24.

LeBeau said he will argue for the maximum end of that sentencing range.