Saturday, May 9, 2009

 Man who killed mother of three gets 56 years in prison

6:10 PM | May 8, 2009

An Anaheim man was sentenced today to 56 years to life in prison for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, orphaning her three children.

Fidel Cortez Sanchez, 45, was convicted of murdering Silvia Picazo, whom he began dating three years after her husband had died of cancer.

When Picazo ended the relationship after a few months, prosecutors said, Sanchez began stalking and following her while she was out with friends or her children, ages 5 to 12.

A week before the September 2007 slaying, Picazo’s 12-year-old son said he heard Sanchez threaten to kill his mother and all her children if she did not get back together with him.

The night of the murder, Sanchez entered Picazo’s Garden Grove home, took a butcher knife from the kitchen and stabbed her three times in the chest and back as she screamed for help.

Sanchez had previously been convicted in a 2004 case of threatening to kill another ex-girlfriend. Picazo’s three children are now living with relatives.

--Tony Barboza

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