Watch CBS News

Enrique Arochi Receives The Maximum Sentance

Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MCKINNEY (CBSDFW.COM) –  Life in prison, that's the sentence the judge gave Enrique Arochi after a jury found him guilty of the aggravated kidnapping of Christina Morris.

Arochi decided to take his chances with the judge instead of letting a jury decide his punishment, but he ended up getting the maximum penalty.

Now family members tell us they're grateful for the outcome, and their search for justice won't end here.

"We will not stop searching until Christina is found. Christina deserves closure. We deserve closure no matter what that may be. She deserves it, and we will not fail her. We will find her, and we will not give up until then," says Jonni McElroy, mother of Christina Morris.

For Enrique Arochi, the judge's life sentence was his worst case scenario, but Christina Morris's family members were finally able to catch their breath before they had the chance to speak to him directly.

"I feel like I did get his attention.  Whether it mattered to him or not, that's his problem. It mattered to me, and I was able to have a voice for myself and Christina, and that's what's important," says McElroy.

McElroy vowed to be at every parole hearing in the future to make sure Arochi spends the rest of his life behind bars.  The victim's father and stepmother also gave victim impact statements, but both doubted they got through to him.

Mark Morris said, "He doesn't care.  He has no feeling about what he did. It doesn't bother him a bit. Even the sentence didn't bother him. I hope it bothers him when he gets there, and I hope he gets what's coming to him. I really do".

"You don't see any compassion.  You don't see any sadness or care or concern at all. It's almost as if that was... this was what he wanted," said Anna Morris, Christian's stepmother.

After the trial family members expressed gratitude to detectives and prosecutors and insisted the search for Christina Morris will continue.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.