Man Sentenced To Life For Pompano Beach Woman's Murder

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami/AP) - A man convicted of beating his girlfriend to death with a sledgehammer in her Pompano Beach apartment in 2004 will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

On Wednesday, a judge handed down the life sentence to 39-year-old Jorge Ayala-Villamizar for the murder of Bianca Sierra.

Sierra's children found her faced down on her bed, her skull crushed. After the killing, Ayala-Villamizar stole Sierra's car and fled to Texas where he lived for five years. He was finally captured in 2009 at a church in Brownsville, Texas. Prosecutors say the killing happened when Sierra sought to break off their relationship.

Ayala-Villimizar did not testify at his trial or speak during the sentencing hearing. His lawyers insisted he was innocent.

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