Yongfei Ci, a former University graduate student, was sentenced to 46 years in prison Wednesday for the first degree murder of his ex-girlfriend Mengchen Huang, a University graduate student, on Sept. 27, 2013.

The sentence falls four years short of the maximum sentence the assistant attorney general set after Ci pleaded guilty in May.

Huang broke up with Ci in early September, and a day before Huang’s murder, he had texted her that he felt “much better now” and he “should be able to move on very soon”

But weeks earlier, during studies at Brown University in Rhode Island, receipts show that he wasn’t ready to move on. On Sept. 20, He bought a CO2 pistol manufactured to look like a semi-automatic online, paying for next day shipping. He also made a separate online purchase of two knives with next day shipping. That same day, he purchased rope from a Wal-Mart in Providence as well.

On Sept. 24, Ci signed a UPS receipt for the knives and bought duct tape at a Wal-Mart in Providence.

On Sept. 27, 2013, he parked in front of Huang’s apartment, which she shared with her roommate, Xue Yang. As Yang exited the apartment in the morning, Ci forced her back in while holding the CO2 gun.

He proceeded to tie up Yang and Huang, moving Yang to the bathroom.

According to Yang’s testimony, Ci beat and yelled at Huang for a while until he asked her if she had any last requests.

Huang responded, pleading with Ci not to hurt her roommate. With that, Ci shut the bathroom door and proceeded to stab Huang in the neck six times.

Yang eventually left the bathroom and called the police, and Ci was apprehended in his hotel room at Value Place in Champaign.

According to files from the Sixth Judicial Circuit, Ci admitted to officers that he was angry at Huang for dating another man.

“She wouldn’t answer my calls or return messages, I was angry, disappointed and thought there would be no chance for us to get back together, so, so I decided to come here and … kill her,” he said.

According to court document, Ci must serve his entire sentence in an Illinois prison, after which he will face deportation.