Man who killed 3 floral nursery workers gets 95 years

KENT, Wash. (AP) — A 40-year-old Lakewood man convicting of killing three floral nursery workers has been sentenced to 95 years in prison.

The Seattle Times says Alberto Avila-Cardenas was sentenced Friday in King County Superior Court in Kent. He was convicted in July of three counts of first-degree murder.

In court Friday, relatives described the victims as kind and responsible men who were deeply missed. Avila-Cardenas denied involvement in the slayings.

Killed were 25-year-old Jesus Bejar-Avila, 26-year-old Yazmani Quezada-Ortiz and 19-year-old Cristian Alberto Rangel.

Prosecutors say Avila-Cardenas kidnapped the men and took them to a remote area of a Kent nursery where he killed them. Their bodies were discovered in March 2011, about three months after they were last seen.

They had been shot in the head in what prosecutors portrayed as revenge slayings. Avila-Cardenas had worked with them until he quit in May 2010.