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Alicia Keator, 40, and her boyfriend Marcus Donnell Gilbert, 41, have now both pleaded guilty to the murder of John Henry Fernandez, who was found suffocated to death on Jan. 2, 2018, with his hands and feet bound and mouth taped shut.
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Fernandez was known throughout the apartment complex as a gentle, grandfatherly type. He did not have family in the area and needed assistance with daily living activities.
According to authorities, Keator agreed to provide that help in exchange for a place to live and had moved into Fernandez's Baytown apartment over a month before the murder. Investigators reported that instead of helping, she allowed her boyfriend to visit routinely, which led to the planned robbery and killing of Fernandez on Christmas Day 2017.
Authorities revealed that concerned neighbors alerted apartment management of Fernandez's disappearance. Over a week later, maintenance workers found his body locked inside his bedroom.
Keator and Gilbert were arrested by the Baytown Police Department and charged with capital murder for suffocating Fernandez. They also took his television, ATM card, and cellphone.
"The elderly and disabled people in our community are extremely vulnerable to becoming victims of violence," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "This couple took advantage of this man's kindness and deserves to spend decades in prison."
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Gilbert was sentenced earlier this year after pleading guilty to murder in exchange for 60 years in prison. Keator pleaded guilty without a plea agreement and left her punishment to the judge.
In the hearing on Thursday, the judge learned that before the plea, Keator had provided critical evidence against her boyfriend and agreed to testify against him.
The judge noted that if Keator had not fully cooperated, she would have been sentenced to a much longer prison term.
Gilbert and Keator must serve at least half their prison sentences before becoming parole-eligible.
Keator was sentenced on Thursday to 25 years in prison by state District Judge Frank Aguilar after she pleaded guilty.