SAN DIEGO -- A man who participated in the gang rape and murder of a mother of six in a remote section of Balboa Park in 1986 was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in prison.

Eddie Lopez Montanez, 48, of Riverside County, was found guilty July 23 in the death of Delores "Dodie" Attig, who was 36.

The defendant's older brother, Steve Montanez, 53, was convicted by a separate jury of rape and murder and is set to be sentenced Tuesday. He faces life in prison without parole.

Deputy District Attorney Jill Schall said the brothers, along with the older sibling's teenage stepson and another man, raped Attig before Steve Montanez shot her once in the head about 3 a.m. on June 19, 1986.

Schall said the Montanez brothers, 15-year-old Eddie Cabanyog and Richard Archuletta traveled from Coachella to Balboa Park and targeted Attig and two male friends who were in the park drinking, smoking and listening to music.

The male victims were thrown face-down on the ground and tied up, and Attig was dragged from a car, gang-raped and killed, the prosecutor said.

Jamie Lynn, the victim's oldest child, told Judge John Einhorn that her grandfather was greatly affected by his daughter's death.

"He deserved better," Lynn said, noting she's not going to let anger toward the defendants ruin her life.

"I'm not going to let this turn me into someone I don't like," she said.

Lynn said her mother pleaded with her killers to spare her life.

"She pleaded with them, 'Please don't hurt me. I have kids,"' Lynn told the judge. "She didn't deserve to die that night."

Lynn said the defendants lived free for more than 20 years after her mother was killed, leaving her family without closure.

"While (the defendants) knew freedom, I was bound by my own agony," Lynn told the court.

DNA taken from the victim was saved, and subsequent advances in DNA allowed authorities to enter the information into California's DNA system in 2006 and a "hit" was made, identifying Archuletta as a suspect, the prosecutor said.

DNA was found from Steve Montanez, Cabanyog and Archuletta, but not Eddie Montanez, the prosecutor said.

He testified that he was scared of his older brother, so he stripped down to his underwear and faked having sex with the victim.

Archuletta was convicted of Attig's murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Cabanyog admitted all charges in Juvenile Court, was released from Juvenile Hall and later convicted of carjacking and sentenced to eight years in prison.