Mass. man sentenced for deaths of girlfriend, mom
NEW BEDFORD, Mass.—A New Bedford man who admitted stabbing his girlfriend and his mother to death three years ago has been sentenced to life without parole.
Thirty-nine-year-old Gary Gomes pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder for killing 48-year-old Robyn Mendes and to manslaughter for killing his mother, 61-year-old Katherine Gomes.
He was sentenced Thursday, including to 18 to 20 years for the manslaughter charge. A prosecutor read a victim impact statement on behalf of Mendes' mother.
The women were found dead in a New Bedford apartment after neighbors smelled natural gas. Police found Gomes barricaded with another person who wasn't hurt.
Prosecutors said Gomes dressed Mendes' body and put it on a bed near a bloody "I love you" message written on a wall. They said he had killed his mother two days before.
