JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who pleaded guilty last month to drowning an 18-year-old mother and her 18-month-old daughter in July 2009 was sentenced Friday afternoon to two consecutive life sentences.
Andrew Gomez, 20, admitted to killing his longtime friend, Tiffany Sykes-Cecconi, and her daughter, Kaylani, at a swimming pool in Arlington.
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Gomez was found standing naked in a community pool at the Cove subdivision on Royal Port Drive in Fort Caroline on July 8, 2009. The victims' bodies were also in the pool.
"Tiffany loved Andrew, but he murdered her and her precious baby daughter," Tiffany Sykes-Cecconi's mother, Linda Sykes, said while crying during Friday's hearing.
Gomez had undergone several mental competency exams, and his attorneys had planned an insanity defense before the plea agreement.
The public defender said Gomez had been involved in a car crash a week prior to the killings and had begun acting delusional after that.
"We believe that bizarre behavior was what resulted in the death of these two beautiful people," public defender Ian Weldon said.
Sykes-Cecconi's aunt, Lesleigh Sykes, gave emotional testimony at the hearing, and Gomez broke down crying.
"I don't hate you Andrew, but I do feel you need to spend your life in prison," Lesleigh Sykes said.
Gomez's family, friends and co-workers also testified.
"I want to say how sorry I am about this devastating nightmare," Gomez's mother, Carmen Mejia, said. "I have never cried so much in my life."
Gomez did not take the stand in the sentencing hearing. The defense was seeking the minimum penalty of 40 years in prison on each murder count.
"A verdict does not make anything that happened acceptable," Linda Sykes said before Friday's hearing. "There is no closure for a broken heart. It is only my faith that allows me comfort, for I am assured that I will see my girls again when my work here on Earth is done."