A man who pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in April in connection to the January 2015 stabbing death of his pregnant girlfriend was recently sentenced to 35 years in prison with the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Joseph Romero, 57, was given that sentence on Tuesday.
The 35 years of prison time he received for the offense was stipulated in a plea agreement reached between Romero’s defense attorneys and the district attorney’s office.
Romero was arrested in January 2015 after he turned himself in to police.
His girlfriend Phenia Martinez, 25, had been missing for days before her body was found in an apartment she and Romero shared on the 1900 block of West 13th Street.
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Martinez’s young daughters told police the two had been fighting on Jan. 5 and that Romero had threatened to kill Martinez, according to investigators.
One daughter told police that Romero and Martinez had a volatile relationship marked by domestic violence in the past. Martinez was 8 months pregnant at the time she was stabbed.
Martinez sustained multiple stab wounds to her upper torso and neck as well as a laceration across the front of her neck, investigators said.
Martinez’s body was discovered Jan. 12, 2015, after police executed a search warrant at the apartment.
A missing person report was filed for Martinez on Jan. 8, 2015. She hadn’t been seen or heard from since Jan. 5.
