Laura Ramirez Pittsburgh mother sentenced to life for her part in starving and physically abusing and torturing her 3 year old step-daughter, Bella Seachrist — the product of an affair her husband had with another woman.
She looked like a victim of a concentration camp. A Pittsburgh woman has been jailed for life for torturing her three-year-old stepdaughter to death.
Bella Rae Seachrist died in June 2020 after she was starved and physically abused by her stepmother Laura Ramirez.
First responders found the girl unresponsive at a home on 10th Street in Oakmont, Pennsylvania in June of 2020. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Even the child’s father failed to help his own daughter
Detectives said she was ‘badly bruised and malnourished’ and suffered from prolonged physical and mental abuse.
Ramirez, 31, was found guilty of first-degree murder in July along with other counts including aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful restraint, and conspiracy to commit homicide.
She was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday with an additional 37 to 74 years. The sentencing follows a presiding judge saying they had ‘never seen such degree of cruelty.’
In May, Bella’s father Jose Eduardo Salazar-Ortiz, 32, was convicted of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy to commit homicide.
Come August, the father was sentenced to 33 to 66 years in prison.
The girl’s death follows the stepmother taking umbrage with her husband who had an affair with a woman, resulting in the birth of Bella. It was there that Ramirez proceeded to punish the child for her father’s deeds.
Documented the child’s abuse but never notified authorities
Also accused in abetting Bella’s death was Ramirez’s sister, Alexis Herrera, 23. The sibling is set to stand trial in January.
She had videos and pictures of the severe abuse of Bella on her cell phone.
She never notified authorities of the abuse the child was undergoing.
The little girl was being starved by her family members and was so emaciated as a result that you could see her bones through her skin, according to authorities. Responding officers stated Bella appearing to be a victim of a concentration camp.
Her hair was patchy and falling out too because she was so malnourished.
She died from malnutrition, failure to thrive due to chronic illness and hypoglycemia, plus abuse and neglect.
Investigators said Bella had been beaten, sexually abused, tied up, gagged and shoved in small dark closets.
‘I will never get to hear my daughter call me mommy’
‘I don’t know that I’ve ever really seen a level of malice not only indeed done here,’ Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer said during the sentencing of Ramirez.
‘There was no other possible result, based on what occurred day after day, week after week, month after month, but for her to die in one of the most horrific ways possible.’
‘The pain, the hunger – I cannot envision a worse fate for that child than the one she suffered at your hands in that house in Oakmont,’ he told Ramirez.
Bella’s mother Nicole previously said she sent her daughter to live with her father and Ramirez because she was struggling.
She found it difficult to raise money for diapers so thought it would be better for Bella to live with Salazar-Ortiz and Ramirez.
Nicole believes her daughter was targeted by her stepmother because she was born as a result of an affair.
‘She just did it out of spite because number one, that’s not her baby. And number two, he had an affair,’ she said.
‘I’m disgusted, I’m angry. I will never get to hear my daughter call me mommy. I will never get to see her graduate. I will never get to see her go to college. I will never get to see her get married.’
