An 18-year-old woman was shot in a park and left to die on a trail in 2018, Washington police say. Now a man is going to prison.
Giovanni Herrin, now 24, is accused of luring his girlfriend, Karyme Barreto-Sabalza, to a park in Kent, strangling and shooting her in the head in June 2018, according to a news release by the city police department.
Herrin then stole Barreto-Sabalza’s car and took money out of her bank account to buy marijuana, police said.
Barreto-Sabalza was found alive by someone in the park but didn’t survive due to the extent of her injuries, police said.
In July 2018 while in custody, Herrin was taken to a hospital after saying he didn’t feel well, police told KIRO. While in the emergency room, he ran from officers guarding him and attempted to steal a car but wasn’t successful.
“A few weeks prior to killing the victim, the victim sent messages to her friends indicating that she was fearful of the defendant and that she was fearful for her life,” according to court documents obtained by FOX 13. “The victim indicated that the defendant had ‘frauded her account’ and that the defendant told her she ‘better watch out.’ The victim also told her friend that if something ever happened to her, ‘Report it and say it was Gio.’”
McClatchy News reached out to officials for court documents and more information Sept. 7 and is awaiting a response.
After three trials and two jury convictions, Herrin was sentenced Sept. 6 to 37 years in prison, cops said.
Kent is about 20 miles south of Seattle.