Photo: FBIA Washington manwho confessed to the rape and murder of his 6-year-old neighborwas sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison, PEOPLE confirms.Before being sentenced on Monday, Gabriel Gaeta, 21, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder and first-degree rape.In 2014,Gaeta sexually assaulted Jenise Wrightand later strangled and beat the little girl to death.Jenise was reported missing in August of 2014. Her body was found five days later, hidden beneath debris in the muddy woods near her Bremerton home.Gaeta was 17 and a high school senior at the time of his arrest.He was charged as an adult.Investigators linked Gaeta to the murder after matching his DNA to fluids recovered from the young girls’ remains.He was found mentally unfit for trial last year.Gaeta will become parole eligible when he’s 57.• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.The Kitsap Daily Newsreports thatGaeta kept silent at his sentencing, but Jeniece LaCross, his defense lawyer, read aloud a statement he had written ahead of the hearing.“I took a young girl’s life away from her and from her family and friends,” Gaeta’s letter said,according to the paper. “I feel like that should never happen to anybody, and no one should have to experience that. I can’t put into words how bad I feel about this. I wish I could make amends for this. I don’t know why I did it.”Denise Wright, Jenise’s mother, spoke publicly about her daughter’s murder for the first time Monday.Rachel La Corte/AP/REX/Shutterstock“You could tell she was going to be a special little girl,”KOMO quotes Denise Wright as saying. “Her smile and friendliness would brighten up anyone’s day. She was the sunshine in our family and now it’s gone. I will always miss her and love her. And now she has no life to experience, and I feel that he shouldn’t have one either.”She added, according to KIRO: “There are no words to explain our pain and loss. I will never get to see her grow up and become a beautiful woman.”PEOPLE was unable to reach LaCross or Wright for comment. It was unclear if Gaeta plans to appeal his sentencing.
Photo: FBI
A Washington manwho confessed to the rape and murder of his 6-year-old neighborwas sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison, PEOPLE confirms.Before being sentenced on Monday, Gabriel Gaeta, 21, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder and first-degree rape.In 2014,Gaeta sexually assaulted Jenise Wrightand later strangled and beat the little girl to death.Jenise was reported missing in August of 2014. Her body was found five days later, hidden beneath debris in the muddy woods near her Bremerton home.Gaeta was 17 and a high school senior at the time of his arrest.He was charged as an adult.Investigators linked Gaeta to the murder after matching his DNA to fluids recovered from the young girls’ remains.He was found mentally unfit for trial last year.Gaeta will become parole eligible when he’s 57.• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.The Kitsap Daily Newsreports thatGaeta kept silent at his sentencing, but Jeniece LaCross, his defense lawyer, read aloud a statement he had written ahead of the hearing.“I took a young girl’s life away from her and from her family and friends,” Gaeta’s letter said,according to the paper. “I feel like that should never happen to anybody, and no one should have to experience that. I can’t put into words how bad I feel about this. I wish I could make amends for this. I don’t know why I did it.”Denise Wright, Jenise’s mother, spoke publicly about her daughter’s murder for the first time Monday.Rachel La Corte/AP/REX/Shutterstock“You could tell she was going to be a special little girl,”KOMO quotes Denise Wright as saying. “Her smile and friendliness would brighten up anyone’s day. She was the sunshine in our family and now it’s gone. I will always miss her and love her. And now she has no life to experience, and I feel that he shouldn’t have one either.”She added, according to KIRO: “There are no words to explain our pain and loss. I will never get to see her grow up and become a beautiful woman.”PEOPLE was unable to reach LaCross or Wright for comment. It was unclear if Gaeta plans to appeal his sentencing.
A Washington manwho confessed to the rape and murder of his 6-year-old neighborwas sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison, PEOPLE confirms.
Before being sentenced on Monday, Gabriel Gaeta, 21, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder and first-degree rape.
In 2014,Gaeta sexually assaulted Jenise Wrightand later strangled and beat the little girl to death.
Jenise was reported missing in August of 2014. Her body was found five days later, hidden beneath debris in the muddy woods near her Bremerton home.
Gaeta was 17 and a high school senior at the time of his arrest.He was charged as an adult.
Investigators linked Gaeta to the murder after matching his DNA to fluids recovered from the young girls’ remains.
He was found mentally unfit for trial last year.
Gaeta will become parole eligible when he’s 57.
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
The Kitsap Daily Newsreports thatGaeta kept silent at his sentencing, but Jeniece LaCross, his defense lawyer, read aloud a statement he had written ahead of the hearing.
“I took a young girl’s life away from her and from her family and friends,” Gaeta’s letter said,according to the paper. “I feel like that should never happen to anybody, and no one should have to experience that. I can’t put into words how bad I feel about this. I wish I could make amends for this. I don’t know why I did it.”
Denise Wright, Jenise’s mother, spoke publicly about her daughter’s murder for the first time Monday.
Rachel La Corte/AP/REX/Shutterstock
“You could tell she was going to be a special little girl,”KOMO quotes Denise Wright as saying. “Her smile and friendliness would brighten up anyone’s day. She was the sunshine in our family and now it’s gone. I will always miss her and love her. And now she has no life to experience, and I feel that he shouldn’t have one either.”
She added, according to KIRO: “There are no words to explain our pain and loss. I will never get to see her grow up and become a beautiful woman.”
PEOPLE was unable to reach LaCross or Wright for comment. It was unclear if Gaeta plans to appeal his sentencing.
source: people.com
