Anna Salinas & Dayana Cordova |
MURRIETA -- Calling them "child monsters," a judge in Murrieta Friday imposed lengthy sentences on two teenage girls who carjacked and murdered a 20 year old mother so they could take her car to Knott's Berry Farm.
Anna Alejandra Salinas, who was 15 when she shot 20 year old Angelina Arias in the head on October 18, 2007, was sentenced to 59 years to life in prison. She could not have been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole because of her age at the time the crime was committed.
Dayana Cordova, who was 16 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to life without parole.
Cordova, who is now 18 years old, received an additional nine year prison sentence for child abuse and kidnapping because she and Salinas drove around with the victim's 9 month old daughter for about two hours before leaving her on someone's Lake Elsinore doorstep. The baby was not found by the home's residents for at least two hours.
Riverside Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson berated the teens for their actions and their subsequent lack of remorse.
"Callousness on this scale defies comprehension," Dickerson said.
A probation report prepared about the women cites a videotape of the defendants in a police interview room, laughing and blaming the victim for her own death.
"Nobody told her (expletive) ass to give us a ride," Cordova said on the tape, which was shown to jurors during trial.
The teens allegedly killed Arias so they could take her car to Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County for a Halloween event.
Investigators believe the girls saw a Chrysler 300 and went into a restaurant to find the owner, who turned out to be Arias, and that she offered them a ride.
After she stopped to pick up her 9-month-old daughter, Salinas allegedly shot the woman twice in the head, according to prosecutors.
The girls allegedly dumped her body on the side of the road, and Salinas then drove to Perris, where they abandoned the baby on the doorstep of a home picked at random.
Cordova was arrested at her home the next day, tracked down with the help of a school resource officer and surveillance tape from a liquor store, which she entered before the shooting. Salinas was caught driving the victim's car.
In the video of the girls left alone together in an interview room at the sheriff's station, the teens ate burgers and fries and slurped sodas, while they laughed about the events surrounding the shooting.
After they were informed the woman had died and they were up for prosecution for murder and kidnapping, they at first cried and then blamed the woman for giving them a ride.
Anna Alejandra Salinas, who was 15 when she shot 20 year old Angelina Arias in the head on October 18, 2007, was sentenced to 59 years to life in prison. She could not have been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole because of her age at the time the crime was committed.
Dayana Cordova, who was 16 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to life without parole.
Cordova, who is now 18 years old, received an additional nine year prison sentence for child abuse and kidnapping because she and Salinas drove around with the victim's 9 month old daughter for about two hours before leaving her on someone's Lake Elsinore doorstep. The baby was not found by the home's residents for at least two hours.
Riverside Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson berated the teens for their actions and their subsequent lack of remorse.
"Callousness on this scale defies comprehension," Dickerson said.
A probation report prepared about the women cites a videotape of the defendants in a police interview room, laughing and blaming the victim for her own death.
"Nobody told her (expletive) ass to give us a ride," Cordova said on the tape, which was shown to jurors during trial.
The teens allegedly killed Arias so they could take her car to Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County for a Halloween event.
Investigators believe the girls saw a Chrysler 300 and went into a restaurant to find the owner, who turned out to be Arias, and that she offered them a ride.
After she stopped to pick up her 9-month-old daughter, Salinas allegedly shot the woman twice in the head, according to prosecutors.
The girls allegedly dumped her body on the side of the road, and Salinas then drove to Perris, where they abandoned the baby on the doorstep of a home picked at random.
Cordova was arrested at her home the next day, tracked down with the help of a school resource officer and surveillance tape from a liquor store, which she entered before the shooting. Salinas was caught driving the victim's car.
In the video of the girls left alone together in an interview room at the sheriff's station, the teens ate burgers and fries and slurped sodas, while they laughed about the events surrounding the shooting.
After they were informed the woman had died and they were up for prosecution for murder and kidnapping, they at first cried and then blamed the woman for giving them a ride.
