After 25 years, Walter Sapp faced justice for the brutal murder of his girlfriend. She bled to death after he stabbed her 17 times and slit her throat, according to police.
Sapp was found guilty Tuesday in the death of Juliet Walden, who he killed in front of her young children, and sentenced to life in prison.
Sapp killed Walden inside their Liberty City home in 1990. He disappeared after the murder, but landed in prison in California for other unrelated crimes. He was using a different name when law enforcement extradited him to Florida to face felony charges.
Tuesday, Walden's family was in court for the verdict and sentencing. Sapp acted as his own attorney and opted for a bench trial instead of a trial by a jury. The victim's son briefly thanked the judge after she declared Sapp guilty of first-degree murder.
"It's been 25 years since this has taken place, when I was 8-years-old, and I'm now a grown man at the age of 33. So it took that long, but I'm just happy that it's done now," said Terrell Walden, victim's son.
Sapp is appealing the verdict and the sentence the judge gave him. In the meantime, he's now headed to a Florida prison for the foreseeable future.
Photo Credit: Miami-Dade Corrections
