Man Gets Life Sentence in Girlfriend's Sledgehammer Slaying

A Florida man who was on the run for five years has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2004 sledgehammer slaying of his girlfriend.
 
A Broward County judge imposed the sentence Wednesday on 39-year-old Jorge Ayala-Villamizar for the killing of Bianca Sierra. The Sun Sentinel reports police said her 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.