Tony Lopez Perez was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in prison for the 2009 murder of Cori Daye Desmond, a South Bay waitress whom authorities said Perez killed after she refused his advances.
Investigators said Perez, 37, of Redondo Beach, at the time the manager of a Santa Monica restaurant and with no felony record, encountered Desmond, 28, of Torrance about 2 a.m. Feb. 15, 2009, as she was leaving a Redondo Beach bar where she once worked.
Desmond's body, wrapped in plastic trash bags, was later found dumped in a snowbank near Highway 330 in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Perez pleaded not guilty to murder after his arrest in October 2009. He was convicted in July. The sentencing hearing Monday before San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge J. David Mazurek included emotional statements from Perez, his former girlfriend and Cori Desmond's father, according to Christopher Lee, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County district attorney's office.
In an impact statement Mark Desmond shared with The Times, he called Perez a "liar, rapist and murderer" and "the epitome of evil."
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