An Oakmont man who was convicted in May of starving his 3-year-old daughter to death has been sentenced to 33 to 66 years in prison.
Jose Salazar-Ortiz, 32, was sentenced Tuesday after being found guilty of third-degree murder in the 2020 starvation death of his daughter, Bella Seachrist.
He also was found guilty of two counts of aggravated assault and counts of endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy to commit homicide.
Salazar-Ortiz Sr. was sentenced by Judge Bruce Beemer, according to court records.
Bella Seachrist died June 9, 2020, after she became unresponsive and was taken to UPMC St. Margaret hospital near Aspinwall.
Investigators said she was subjected to sustained abuse and starvation in her family’s Oakmont home before her death, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing in the case.
The girl was not allowed to interact with other children in the household and was forced to sleep on a cot in a hallway while the others slept on beds in bedrooms, according to testimony.
The girl’s stepmother, Laura Ramriez, 31, was convicted in July of first-degree murder.
Under Pennsylvania law, a first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.
In a nonjury trial before Beemer, the judge also convicted Ramriez of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful restraint and conspiracy to commit homicide.
Ramriez beat the girl daily, a criminal complaint said. The Oakmont woman sometimes tied Bella to a staircase with shoelaces, hit her with a wooden spoon or forced her to stay in a closet for long periods of time, according to the complaint.
Bella was forced to sit for so long on her training potty that her feet became swollen and purple, and she often was made to stand facing a wall with her arms in the air and head tilted up and was not permitted to put her head down, Allegheny County Police investigators said.
Ramriez’s sister, Alexis Herrera, 23, also faces homicide charges. She is scheduled for trial in January.
