A Houston woman, Erika Miranda-Alvarez, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for stabbing her friend Carolina Flores to death and stealing her six-week-old baby, according to the Harris County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office.
On Tuesday, Erika pleaded guilty of murder after a six-year trial. The incident reportedly occurred on December 19, 2017, when Erika stabbed 33-year-old Carolina Flores-Miranda to death in her Aldine-area apartment before stealing her baby girl.
According to Daily Mail, the two women were friends and had been pregnant at the same time, but Erika suffered a miscarriage and kept it a secret. So, when Carolina who already had four children, gave birth to a baby girl, Erika visited her and killed her, before stealing her six-week-old baby. Her intention was to falsely claim and raise the child as her own.
Prosecutors revealed that Miranda-Alvarez’s defense team claimed she was mentally unstable at the time of the crime, but Harris County Assistant District Attorney Casey Smith argued, “She knew what she was doing was wrong, and we know that from what she said to people and what she did, including dumping the victim’s cellphone in the toilet tank.”
After Carolina’s body was found by her family members, law enforcement officials conducted an extensive two-day search and eventually, the baby was found safe and sound in Miranda-Alvarez’s residence.
When arrested, Erika claimed she found Flores dead and took the baby but denied involvement in the murder.
During the trial, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg stated, “I wish there was a way to undo all the harm and pain that this defendant inflicted on others, but all we can do is work to ensure that she spends decades in prison for her actions.”
Speaking on the incident, Attorney Casey Smith said the family members of the victim were present in court to witness the judgement, after waiting for a long time for justice to be served.
