MURRIETA, Calif. (AP) – A Riverside County man who strangled his girlfriend in bed, then stuffed her body in a suitcase which he dropped at a motel was sentenced Friday to 56 years to life in prison.
Joseph David Dorsey was convicted in June of first-degree murder for the killing of Christine Osborn-Stewart at his Lake Elsinore apartment in August 2012.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports that prosecutors argued Dorsey lacked remorse, pointing out that after the murder he withdrew cash using Osborn-Stewart’s ATM card and stopped for a milkshake.
Dorsey dropped the suitcase at a motel in San Diego County before fleeing to northern Mexico, where he was arrested in October.
“I can only imagine what the victim went through . absolute fear,” Judge Mark Mandio said during Friday’s sentencing.
Osborn-Stewart worked for Riverside County, assisting women with substance-abuse or mental-health problems.
“My heart is destroyed,” her mother, Judy Brauer, told the judge. “I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to my daughter because she was stuck in a suitcase.”
