Nearly a decade after Christian Vasquez was accused of murdering his 2-year-old daughter and leaving her in the attic, it took a jury only 15 minutes to convict him of the crime Friday afternoon.
The judge issued a swift sentence − life in prison plus 70 years − following the jury’s deliberations, according to Channel 2 Action News. He sat silent, nearly emotionless, as the verdict and sentencing were given.
In 2007, Vasquez along with then 20-year-old wife Amy Ruiz and her daughter from a previous marriage left for Mexico before authorities found out he had struck daughter Prisi in the head and placed her in the attic at his Lawrenceville home.
The following year, a tip from a family member led authorities to a rental home on Stillwater Drive, where Vasquesz lived with his family, the Atlanta Journal Constitution previously reported. There police found Prisi’s body wrapped in plastic in the attic, unbeknownst to the home renter.
Ruiz was arrested in 2009 after she attempted to cross the Mexican border into Texas. Vasquez was arrested in 2012 by Mexican authorities and was extradited in 2013.
What followed was a three-year ordeal that led to finger pointing and trial delays.
Vasquez’s original trial scheduled for June 2015 was delayed when Ruiz was charged with murder for “failure to seek medical” aid for her daughter. She was previously released from jail on a child cruelty charge.
At her trial in April, Ruiz later testified Vasquez wouldn’t let her call 911.
Ruiz was ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children and concealing the child’s death. She was sentenced to 11 years and seven months in prison, with 20 years of probation.
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