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A teenage girl spent her final moments courageously trying to save her mother from a vicious knife attack by her boyfriend.
Jean Pierre Ojeda Salazar, 27, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for two counts of first-degree murder after a jury spared him from the death penalty.
He was convicted over the deaths of Paula Cabrejo Molina and her 14-year-old daughter, Mariana Cabrejo, on the morning of November 26, 2023.
Prosecutors said he stabbed his girlfriend 18 times at her home in The Lodge at Hidden River apartments on the outskirts of Tampa, Florida.
Diana Calderon, a friend who lived at the apartment with the victim and her two children told jurors that she saw Ojeda Salazar stabbing Cabrejo Molina on her bed when her daughter rushed to her defense.
Ojeda Salazar responded by stabbing the youngster four times before she could escape. She was still breathing when police arrived but later died in hospital.
'She had a front-row seat to her mother's own suffering,' prosecutor Lindsey Hodges told the jury, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
'She witnessed all of it. She heard her mother's screams. She saw her mother's blood, and she saw how gruesomely her mother was attacked by the man who should have been saying 'I love you.''
A teenage girl spent her final moments courageously trying to save her mother from a vicious knife attack by her boyfriend, prosecutors have said as his trial concluded. Paula Cabrejo Molina and her 14-year-old daughter, Mariana Cabrejo are pictured left and center above
Jean Pierre Ojeda Salazar, 27, was sentenced to life in prison Monday for two counts of first-degree murder after a jury spared him from the death penalty
Text messages showed how the couple's relationship had deteriorated, and Cabrejo Molina had wanted to leave her boyfriend.
Ojeda Salazar did not take the stand, but his attorneys told the jury the stabbing was a domestic incident which got out of hand.
They argued that he should be convicted for manslaughter, not murder, but jurors disagreed.
'This case is heartbreaking on every level,' State Attorney Suzy Lopez said in a statement.
'A woman lost her life, and her teenage daughter was murdered while courageously trying to protect her.
'This verdict holds the defendant accountable for these horrific acts and delivers a measure of justice for a family whose lives have been changed forever.'
After committing the heinous crime, Ojeda Salazar fled the scene in a white sedan, which he later abandoned.
The US Marshals Fugitive Task Force traced him to his brother's house in Maryland, where he was detained before being charged with murder.
Diana Calderon, a friend who lived at the apartment with the victim and her two children told jurors that she saw Ojeda Salazar stabbing Cabrejo Molina on her bed when her 14-year-old daughter Mariana, pictured above, rushed to her defense
Mariana Cabrejo, 14, was stabbed four times by her mother's boyfriend. She was still breathing when police arrived but later died in hospital
'Mourning the loss of a loved one, after their lives were taken in such a tragic manner, is unfathomable. During this difficult time, we will continue to provide support to the families of the victims involved,' Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement.
'Salazar's arrest proves that our detectives will stop at nothing to ensure that those who commit a crime, especially one as heinous as this one, are held accountable.'
Under Florida law, Ojeda Salazar could have been sentenced to the death penalty, but jurors recommended life in prison.
Hillsborough Circuit Judge G. Gregory Green imposed two life sentences without the possibility of parole.
A family friend, Stephany Villa, remembered the victims as 'very pure souls'. 'We consider them angels,' she told a vigil, according to Fox News.
Friends said they were originally from Colombia and came to the US for a better life.
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