Woman sentenced to 16 years in man’s killing, dismemberment
LOS ANGELES » A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison in the stabbing and dismembering of a man in what authorities called a ritualistic killing at a Los Angeles hotel.
City News Service reports that Melissa Hope Garcia was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and other charges. Before sentencing, Garcia apologized to family members of the victim, Herbert Tracy White.
Garcia’s husband, Edward Garcia Jr., was sentenced last month to life in prison for first-degree murder.
Prosecutors say the couple lured White to the downtown Continental Hotel in November 2010 and killed him while acting out a fantasy about carving up a human being.
White’s remains were found in a backpack and under a blood-stained mattress.