A 27-year-old man who murdered a UIC student in a high-profile 2005 beating has been deported to his native Lithuania.

Mantas Matulis was convicted in 2007 of the second-degree murder of Tombol Malik, 23, and was sentenced to 18 years. By then he’d already spent nearly two years behind bars, and, after serving another six, he was released from prison in November and deported to his homeland Tuesday, according to statement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Matulis and his pal Muaz Haffar killed Malik after a party near the University of Illinois at Chicago campus on the Near West Side on July 9, 2005, evidence showed. But Haffar, who beat Malik with a bike lock before Matulis landed a final deadly kick to the head, skipped bail and fled to Syria before trial, leaving Matulis to stand trial alone.

Haffar was convicted in absentia but remains at large. Malik’s family said at the time of Matulis’s conviction that they will not have closure until Haffar faces justice.