GREECE, N.Y. (AP) — A young woman and her boyfriend have pleaded guilty to fatally shooting the woman’s mother in her Upstate New York home in 2020.
Hannah Thomas, who was 17 years old at the time of the killing and is now 19, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree manslaughter for causing the death of Ottilia Piros. Thomas’ boyfriend, Richard Avila, 16 when the murder occurred and now 18, pleaded guilty to the same charge on Tuesday.
Each face 25 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision, according to a statement Wednesday by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
Both are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 28.
The couple were pulled over for speeding on Dec. 29, 2020, by police in Missouri, who attempted to contact the teens’ family members. When police arrived at Otillia’s home in Greece, N.Y., they found the 36-year-old dead from a gunshot wound.
The pair were extradited to New York to face charges in the death.
“Richard Avila and Hannah Thomas murdered Hannah’s mother without provocation or reason,” Assistant District Attorney Kevin Sunderland said in a statement. “This senseless murder not only took the life of Ottilia Piros but will also ruin the lives of both Hannah Thomas and Richard Avila.”
District Attorney Sandra Doorley called Piros’ murder “heartbreaking” and a “violent act of betrayal.”