Dallas Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Neighbor After Inviting Her to Study the Bible
A judge in Dallas, Texas, has sentenced a 23-year-old man to life in prison for killing his 55-year-old neighbor by stabbing her more than 30 times after inviting her over for Bible study. The convict left a note on the victim's body saying, "Satan's son," and later admitted he had evil inside of him.
Randy Torres was sentenced Friday, about a month after pleading guilty to murder in the death of 55-year-old Cathy Wilder on July 30, 2010, according to The Associated Press.
Torres, who was 19 at the time, invited Wilder to his mobile home on the pretext of prayer and Bible study, and then brutally stabbed her, according to investigators. A note found on Wilder's body read, "Satan's son."
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"I have to help people with God wherever I can," the victim had told her husband, Stanley Carr, when he suggested she didn't need to go, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Torres turned himself in at a bar near his home. He has been getting mental health treatment and taking medication since his arrest, according to his mother, Maria Vasquez.
Judge Mark Stoltz said the convict should never be freed on parole, according to ABC News.
"I want him to be able to get life in prison," Virginia Wilder, the victim's sister, was quoted as saying. "I want him never to be able to kill again. I'm thinking how he brutally butchered my sister."
Torre's mother, Maria Vasquez, claimed that her son had changed after getting mental health treatment in the prison. "I see a totally different person after all this medication he's taking," she said.
"I've seen a lot of gory stuff, but this is the one that bothered me the most," Dallas Police Officer Sean Moses was quoted as saying during his testimony. "I was looking at a lady in a massive pool of blood with a knife through her head."
Torres told investigators he attacked Wilder because of the evil inside of him. "I actually enjoyed it," he told the detective, according to the Dallas newspaper. "I just took off because my life is in danger. I could've kept on doing this to other people."
Torres also described the murder, saying he first stabbed Wilder in the back with a kitchen knife but the handle broke off. He then brought another knife and went on a "rampage."
"It takes a man to kill with a knife," he was quoted as saying.
