Renato Seabra was convicted of the 2011 murder of a Portuguese news anchor in New York City.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Male model Renato Seabra killed, mutilated Carlos Antonio De Castro, jury finds
- Both men were from Portugal visiting New York City in late 2010, early 2011
- Castro, 65, a TV journalist, broke off the relationship with Seabra, then 20
- Castro was found bludgeoned and castrated on the floor of their hotel room
(CNN) -- He was a 20-year-old male model. His lover was a 65-year-old man who was a television journalist. They were from Portugal, visiting New York City. The older partner broke off the relationship and ended up mutilated and dead.
Now, almost two years later, a New York judge has sentenced model Renato Seabra to 25 years to life in prison -- the maximum sentence -- for the grisly second-degree murder of Carlos Antonio De Castro in their InterContinental Hotel room in Times Square.
"This was a brutal and sadistic crime, where Renato Seabra bludgeoned, choked, and mutilated his victim before murdering him," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said following the jury's guilty verdict this month.
"But the jury's verdict now, finally, holds Seabra accountable. It is particularly tragic that Carlos Castro was not only ... betrayed by his spurned lover, but met a very painful and violent end far from his home," Vance said.
Castro was found bludgeoned and castrated in the hotel room in January 2011, a law enforcement source told CNN at the time.
Seabra, now 23, attacked Castro because he was angry that Castro had ended their relationship, prosecutors said.
Court document: Model confessed to choking and castrating victim
Following the prolonged attack, Seabra showered, took about $1,600 from Castro's wallet, and hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, prosecutors said.
On his way out of the hotel, Seabra bumped into a friend of Castro's in the lobby, who later testified that Seabra said Castro "won't be leaving the room," prosecutors said.
Castro's body was found shortly after an acquaintance appeared at the hotel asking to see him, saying she had been in contact with him earlier in the day, but was unable to reach him for some time, officials said.
A hotel employee found Castro's unclothed body on the room floor on January 7, 2011, and the cause of death was later determined to be blunt injuries to the head and neck compression, prosecutors said.
Seabra was taken into custody after he was spotted leaving a New York hospital where he received treatment for lacerations to his wrists, authorities said. He underwent a psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue, the source said at the time.
The day after the murder, Seabra confessed to the crime at Bellevue Hospital, prosecutors said.
Previously on CNN.com: Model indicted in killing of Portuguese journalist
A television journalist, Castro had also been a recent gossip columnist for the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha. Seabra was a recent finalist on a Portuguese model-search television show called "A Procura de um Sonho."
The two men departed from Portugal on December 29, 2010, prosecutors said.
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