A Virginia man was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for killing a woman authorities said he had mistaken for an ex-girlfriend, so he repeatedly stabbed her and set her on fire in a Fairfax County apartment.
Richard Montano48, was found guilty in October of first-degree murder and arson for the crime of Silvia Vaca Abacay40 years old, registered on August 10, 2022.
Police said the woman had been temporarily staying with Montano’s ex-girlfriend, Fatima Via Rojasin an apartment in the Seven Corners area of Falls Church.
Prosecutors said Montano went to Via Rojas’ apartment, 2900 Willston Place, with the intention of killing her, not Vaca Abacay. The two had a volatile and abusive relationship for about eight years before Via Rojas broke up with him for good a month before the attack.
After the breakup in July 2022, she texted him to leave her alone. Two days later Vaca Abacay moved in with her, according to Via Rojas testified during the trial.
“I feel guilty. A part of me feels guilty because he came for me, not her.and she has to pay for something that is supposed to happen to me,” he lamented.
Vaca Abacay was the mother of a son and a daughter, who live in Bolivia, a country from which she left 6 years earlier in search of the American dream.
Defense assures that Montano is not “completely evil”
Security video played during the trial showed a man entering and leaving the Via Rojas apartment seven times in the weeks before the murder.
On August 10, a neighbor heard screaming and banging at the Via Rojas apartment and called 911. First responders arrived within minutes and found the apartment on fire, according to authorities. Investigators discovered Vaca Abacay’s burned body in a charred, blood-spattered roomprosecutors said.
“At some point, he had to have realized he had the wrong person,” prosecutor Kaitlin Morgan told the judge. “And yet she kept going,” she added.
Prosecutor Steve Descano said Vaca Abacay’s murder was an unnecessary and senseless death. “The extreme level of violence and complete disregard for human life demonstrated by Richard Montano is of a level rarely seen in Fairfax County,” he said.
For its part, Defense attorney Mandy Petrocelli said Montano is not “completely evil.”referring to letters written to the court by loved ones.
In addition, he asked Chief Judge Penney Azcárate to give him a sentence within the guidelines, arguing that he should “put his worst days in context” with other aspects of his life.
Azcárate said that the aggravated facts of the case show “strong evidence of guilt.” He agreed with Petrocelli that a defendant’s sentence should not be based on a person’s worst days, but he said he could not ignore the impact of his decisions.
“The worst moments are weighed according to the severity of those moments… In your worst moments you killed a daughter, a mother and a friend”, he commented.
Through an interpreter, Montano declared in court, “To all those who point the finger at me, I want to tell you that my conscience is clear.” His defense reiterated that his client maintains his innocence and would appeal the sentence.
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