A man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend in South Florida and fleeing to Nicaragua was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday.
Roque Torres, 64, will spend a minimum of 25 years behind bars in the death of 40-year-old Marisol Ramon, whose body was found nearly four years ago in the Florida Everglades.
"I want to say that I'm an innocent man, I didn't kill Marisol Ramon, and the evidence shows very clear that I didn't kill her," Torres said during Wednesday's sentencing.
Ramon disappeared from a Miami Lakes parking lot on May 26, 2010, and her body was found along U.S. 27 near the Everglades over a month later. Surveillance video from the Miami Lakes Shopping Plaza captured Ramon driving away and being followed by an SUV that belonged to Torres.
Authorities say Torres fled the country on May 27, stopping in Costa Rica before heading to Nicaragua. Police tracked him down at a Managua casino, where Torres provided a fake ID, but an Interpol search revealed he was wanted for murder in Miami.
Torres' attorney, Alexander Michaels, said he plans on filing an appeal.
"We are very disappointed in the jury verdict, we have to live by it," Michaels said.
