Ex-girlfriend, accomplice sentenced in West Seattle man’s ambush and murder

Emotions ran high Friday in a King County courtroom. A woman and a friend will now spend years behind bars for the murder of her ex-boyfriend.

Neither she nor her accomplice expressed remorse in the courtroom. And that didn’t help their plea for leniency with the judge who was sentencing them.

“It is still just beyond me to understand how anyone could hurt him,” said Mollie Hughes, wiping her eyes.

The last two and half years seemed to weigh heavily on the self-described “American Mom” of Edixon Velasquez, the former foster child from Honduras she grew to love.

“He was my son,” said Hughes. “He was my friend. And he shared so much of himself in his short life.”

She stood just a few feet from 23-year-old Anna Kasparova, the ex-girlfriend who set up Velasquez for an ambush and robbery that went fatally wrong.

“And his last act on this planet was doing a kindness for her,” she said.

Velasquez was just 25 in September of 2017, when Kasparova lured him out of his house to help her. Instead, 21-year-old Abel Linares Montejo shot and killed him. Kasparova walked over his dying body and drove away, trying neither to help nor call 911.

“I hope one day I’m able to clear this huge ordeal and accusation,” said a tearful Kasparova. She railed against the judicial system but made no apology for the death of Velasquez.

“I don’t deserve to be perceived as a person that I’m not,” said Kasparova. “And I’m still going to continue to fight this case.”

Judge Kristin Richardson said there was persuasive evidence against both of them.

“There is no doubt,” she said. But, she added, she couldn’t ignore the fact that they are still quite young.

“I am going to impose the low end of the standard range in each case,” Judge Richardson said.

With that, she sentenced them both to 25 years in prison. They will be middle-aged when they are released. They say they are appealing their convictions.

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