Mother convicted of leaving dead daughter in attic sentenced to prison

Amy Ruiz learned she could spend up to 11 and a half years in prison.

“A little girl’s last words shouldn’t have to be ‘Mama, Mama,’” a Gwinnett County judge said Friday as he sentenced a woman for her role in her daughter’s death.

Amy Ruiz was convicted April 19 of involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children and concealing the death of a child — but not murder.

Her 2-year-old girl, Prisi, was found in 2008, wrapped in plastic and in the attic of the family’s Gwinnett County home.

Ruiz cried nearly nonstop in court as she swore Christian Vasquez wouldn’t let her call 911 on Feb. 3, 2007, when she returned home to find her daughter in distress. She said her ex-husband, abused her and held her captive in another country.

Vasquez allegedly killed his young daughter, Prisi, with a blow to the head sometime in 2007, according to investigators. Vasquez then placed the girl's body in the attic of the family's Lawrenceville-area home before fleeing to Mexico with his then-20-year-old wife and her child from a previous marriage, police previously said.

Judge Warren Davis sentenced Ruiz to 11 years and seven months in prison, with 20 years of probation to follow, according to Channel 2.