New York City

Niece Sentenced for Killing Aunt With Meat Cleaver Inside Queens Home They Shared

Elizabeth Sanchez's aunt took her in when she had nowhere to stay, and was killed in March 2017 in her Jamaica home

What to Know

  • A woman who killed her aunt with a meat cleaver in the New York City home they shared has been sentenced to 23 years in prison
  • Elizabeth Sanchez, 32, pleaded guilty in June to manslaughter and rape concerning her sexual relations with a boy under 15
  • Sanchez's aunt took her in when she had nowhere to stay, and was killed in March 2017 in her Jamaica home

A woman who killed her aunt with a meat cleaver in the New York City home they shared has been sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan says 32-year-old Elizabeth Sanchez was sentenced Tuesday. She's also known as Digna Sanchez-Ortiz.

Court records show she pleaded guilty in June to manslaughter and rape. Ryan says the rape charge concerned Sanchez' sexual relations with a boy under 15.

She'll serve her 2 1/3-to-7-year sentence on the rape charge simultaneously with her prison term for killing her aunt, Maria Palaguachi.

Ryan says Palaguachi took Sanchez in when she had nowhere to stay. The 50-year-old Palaguachi was killed in March 2017 in her home in the Jamaica neighborhood.

A message was left for Sanchez' lawyer after the sentencing.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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