LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga.-- A man was sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife after she refused to have sex with him.
A jury found Fernando Guzman-Perez guilty of murder and concealing the death of another in the death of Yamilet Rodriguez-Vences. Her body was found in orange trash bags surrounded by tires in a wooded area behind her husband's work, prosecutors said.
In the trial, detectives testified that Guzman-Perez told them he tried to initiate sex with his wife after midnight on Oct. 14, 2015. She refused and put pillows between them. Guzman-Perez said he continued to ask her why she didn't want to have sex, and Rodriguez-Vences got up and put on jeans and a t-shirt and told him she was leaving, but would return for their children the next day.
Guzman-Perez said he told his wife not to take her cell phone because he had bought it for her. He said she then broke the phone and told Guzman-Perez not to call their pastor or family because she wouldn't be staying with them. Guzman-Perez told detectives that she had taken about $1,700 in cash.
Guzman-Perez told detectives that as his wife headed downstairs, he went to grab her arm and she tripped. He said he though her neck was broken. He said that he checked on her and she had no pulse. He claimed that he panicked and put her body in orange trash bags and dumped it behind his work place.
The body was discovered in the area behind the Express Oil Change on W. Pike Street on the afternoon of Oct. 15.
However, Gwinnett County Medical Examiner Dr. Carol Terry testified that Rodriguez-Vences had no broken bones. Terry said that it was difficult to determine the cause of death due to the level of decomposition. Terry said she could not rule out asphyxiation, noting that one plastic bag was specifically taped around the victim's neck. The death was ruled a homicide.
Guzman-Perez was found guilty and ordered to serve life in prison without parole.
