An alleged devil worshipper was sentenced to life in prison
Tuesday for killing a college student in his apartment and then setting her
body on fire.
Mark Anthony Alverez, 30, was sentenced for
second-degree murder in the 2001 death of 20-year-old Crisie
Mejias, whom he met while working as a bouncer at a
salsa dance. Convicted in August, Alverez also
received a a 30-year sentence for second-degree
arson.
During the sentencing, Circuit Judge Lance Day noted Alverez's
extensive criminal record in New York. Day ordered the sentences to run
consecutively. The sentencing came after testimony from the victim's family.
"Each time you've come to the system you've had several chances to do
something with your life," Day said. "There comes a point when the
court ... should say we can't do anything to help you."
A student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Mejias
was visiting her parents in Jacksonville the night she met Alverez
and offered him a ride home. Eighteen hours later, her nude body was discovered
wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a suitcase in the back of her parents'
burning Ford Escort.
Alverez claimed Mejias died
during rough sex that she had initiated, and that he panicked and tried to
dispose of the body. Several Duval County jail inmates, however, testified that
Alverez talked about sacrificing Mejias
in a satanic ritual by suffocating her and setting her on fire. Police found
books about devil worship in his apartment.
They also found the movie "The Rising Sun" in his videocassette
recorder. Defense lawyers played jurors scenes from the movie which showed a
woman dying of asphyxiation during consensual sex.
Alverez first went on trial in March, but the case
ended in a mistrial when a witness disclosed Alverez's
criminal record in New York. His attorneys said he was accused of having sex
with a minor.