LAKE COUNTY, Ohio -- The man who murdered a Lake County woman in her home last July will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
After labeling Juan Razo as "evil personified," Lake County Judge John P. O'Donnell sentenced him to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $180,000.
Last month Razo, an illegal immigrant, pleaded guilty to the charges against him regarding the murder of 60-year-old Peggy Kostelnik. She was killed in her Ravenna Road home.
Razo, who doesn't speak English, sat with a translator who dictated the court proceedings as sentencing was underway.
The judge declared he's seen no remorse from Razo, while adding he's never seen his eyes despite several previous court appearances.
The same day Kostelnik was killed, Razo shot another woman.
She survived.
That woman was among several people who tearfully spoke to the court prior to Razo's sentencing.
“I can never take away my kids seeing me covered in blood, and I can’t take away the terror they felt that day," she said. "I can’t change how it will shape their life from now on. They don’t see life the same way anymore. Their innocence has been taken from them. The world is now a scary place.”
Razo has been in the Lake County Jail since his arrest on $10 million bond.
When stopped by sheriff's deputies days earlier on July 7, he admitted that he is an illegal immigrant. However, U.S. Border Patrol officials declined to take custody of Razo, the report shows.
At one point, Razo refused to identify himself, the deputy wrote. "[Notes:Razo] was secured while we spoke with ...U.S. Border Patrol, who later decided not to respond to take [Notes:Razo] into custody," the deputy wrote in his report. "[Notes:Razo] was warned not to return to this property. We cleared."
It is unclear why Border Patrol refused to take Razo into custody.
