Man Sentenced to Die for Raping, Killing Girl, 9

A Texas drifter who kidnaped, raped and killed a 9-year-old schoolgirl four years ago was sentenced Friday to die in the gas chamber after the victim’s mother made an impassioned plea to the judge.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Sara Puente told the judge before he sentenced Richard Lucio DeHoyos, 36. He “deserves to be put away in a box six feet underground and even that’s being kind to someone like him.”

DeHoyos, who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and has been known to bark and growl in court, told the judge that he is sorry for his actions. But he showed little emotion as when he was sentenced to Death Row.

In June, a jury recommended that DeHoyos be put to death for killing Nadia Puente on March 20, 1989. It was the second time a jury had convicted DeHoyos of the crime and recommended that he be sentenced to death; the first verdict was overturned due to jury misconduct.

According to testimony, Nadia was walking home from school when DeHoyos lured her into his car by posing as a schoolteacher who needed help carrying books. He testified that he attacked the girl while in a rage over losing his job at a fast-food restaurant earlier that day. He was furious at the manager who fired him, not Nadia, he said.

DeHoyos took the child to a motel, where he raped her and suffocated her. He wrapped her body in a blanket and left it in a trash bin in Griffith Park.