Iverson graduated from Youngsville High School in 1995.

Less than two years later, she left for Las Vegas.

In May 1997, when Nadia was barely 20 years old, she was killed by Arthur L. Sewall, who had been a Las Vegas police officer two months before. She was found dead with a gunshot wound to her head on May 8 in an apartment that was under renovation.

Sewall wasn’t charged in her death until January 2018.

Nadia Iverson, left, is pictured with her sister, Marie.

On Thursday, Sewall, 56, entered a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon in the death of Iverson.

It was a big moment for Nadia’s family and friends, but not everything they had hoped.

“After 25-and-a-half years of waiting for justice, I feel, in a sense, relieved, because he actually confessed,” Nadia’s sister, Marie Coker, said. “The fact that he’s owning it is something I’ve prayed for for a very long time. That’s something that I’ve needed and my family has needed for closure.”

On the other hand, the man that killed her sister does not face decades in prison.

“The plea agreement is very frustrating,” Coker said.

‘Justice4Nadia’ wrist bands.

Sewall faces a likely sentence of 6 to 15 years in prison, with credit for four years served, Coker said.

“In two years, he will go before the parole board requesting release,” she said. “I will be there. I will fight for every minute for the next 15 full years for my sister.”

“There will never be enough time served,” she said. “She deserved to live. She deserved a life. He chose to use his police badge as an opportunity to serve and protect himself instead of the community.”

Sewall was facing a multi-day trial starting next week with as many as 15 witnesses expected to appear.

A trial may have led to a verdict with more serious penalties, but, it wasn’t something the family was looking forward to. “We were willing to go,” Coker said. “My husband, I, my brother, and my mother, were going to be present for the trial.”

The plea saves them from having to “listen to his lawyers talk poorly about her or say that her life didn’t matter, because it did,” she said.

The family has been through so much for more than 25 years. “So daunting,” Coker said. “Emotionally, spiritually, and physically daunting. But we pressed on.”

“I have felt like I have had to be a voice for her, to advocate for her, because he took her voice,” Coker said.

Sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3. “I cannot wait for that day, to be in front of him,” said Coker, who wants him to know that Nadia’s life mattered. “She is missed. She is loved.”

“There is more to the story than just one night,” Coker said. “My sister meant so much to so many people in Warren County.”

“Her life lives on through us,” she said. “I will take that forward with me and to my children and they will know the goodness and the love in her heart that she had for so many people.”

“My hope is that friends and family that have been part of #justice4nadia will bring their shirts and their wristbands for the sentencing and be bold enough to speak on her behalf,” she said.

In addition to helping the judge hand down an appropriate sentence, impact statements read at the time of sentencing will be presented as evidence at parole hearings, she said.

Coker said Sewall could have faced more time.

“He already confessed to it four-and-a-half years ago,” she said. “It would have been (a sentence of) 20 to 40.”

But, she said, that confession was thrown out because Sewall was not read his Miranda rights. “We’re looking at 6 to 15 because of him getting the opportunity to have a plea deal,” Coker said.

She is casting no blame in the direction of the district attorney handling the case. “The DA for Nevada has been on top of things — very thorough,” Coker said. “The victim advocate has been calling me back immediately. I’m very thankful for the DA and the victim advocate.”

The news in the case has been spread out — even since Sewall’s arrest in 2018.

Coker arrived home from work Thursday and received a call from Nevada.

“The DA called,” she said. “We might have a plea.”

“I waited about 35, 40 minutes and he called me back immediately,” she said. During the entry of the plea, Sewall did more than sign a paper. “He actually said that he actually killed her,” she said.

The news is having an impact on those who knew Nadia, and those who supported her and her family without needing to have ever met her.

The Facebook group #justice4nadia has brought those people together.

“We became family in the process of that group,” Coker said. “I’ve kept the group updated with any news, no matter how small.”

“Her story, the truth, who Nadia was and what she stood for, was brought clear in the group,” Coker said. “People that didn’t know Nadia… felt they had a sense that they knew who Nadia was.”

“I had so much support, as did my family,” she said. “I am forever grateful for what they were willing to do.”

There will be a vigil from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, at Riverside Cemetery in Pittsfield. Then, family and friends will look to participate in sentencing.

“Jan. 3 will be a great day,” Coker said. “It will be a healing day.”