BRIDGETON, N.J. » A southern New Jersey man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his father and burying him under the back porch of their home.

Dreu Ferguson Jr. was convicted of aggravated manslaughter in March by a Cumberland County jury that also acquitted him of murder. The 39-year-old Millville man was also found guilty of tampering with evidence and desecrating or concealing human remains.

Authorities have said Ferguson killed his 58-year-old father, Dreu Ferguson Sr., in May 2009 after they argued over the lid of a teapot.

Prosecutors argued at trial that Ferguson buried his father in lime and fertilizer under their back porch. But a forensic pathologist testifying for the defense said the man may have died of natural causes.