ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The couple accused of strangling a man to death using a shoelace will serve prison time.
A judge handed down sentences for Jose Torres and Jennifer Smedley on Friday. The couple is accused of killing James Watrous in May at a Denny's on Lee Road near I-4.
According to court documents, Torres confessed to the crime. He told detectives he used a shoe string to strangle the victim in a jealous rage, after learning Smedley, who was his live-in girlfriend, was sleeping with Watrous.
"It just sickens me that my dad cared so much for her. He would have done anything for this woman and here she sits stone faced, acting like she doesn't care," Watrous' daughter, Anna Ward, said in court.
Detectives said the couple drove to Tampa and back, looking for a place to dump his body. Torres lead investigators to the body in a wooded area in Casselberry.
Watrous' family cried on the witness stand, blaming the suspects for killing their loved one.
"I just hope one day you will learn what you took from this world. You took my dad," Ward said.
"I lost my best friend that I talked to everyday and he is no longer with us because of your choices," said Watrous' daughter, Jessica Watrous.
But some family members found a way to forgive them.
"I forgive you, I forgive everything that has happened. I don't blame you for it," said Watrous' daughter Rebecca Disorvo. "I think you should really take that time when you're in there, you can still do so much, it doesn't matter where you are."
The victim's family asked the judge to hand down the maximum sentence and hold the people who killed their loved one accountable.
"She was responsible for taking his life. You brought him into your mess," Ward said.
Torres was found guilty of first-degree murder. He is sentenced to life in prison, plus five years.
Smedley plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. She will serve five years in prison.