A Milwaukee man found guilty of killing a woman and her 4-year-old daughter was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday.
Patrick Fowler was found guilty last month of fatally stabbing Jessica Ellenberger and Madyson Marshel.
BREAKING: The judge orders Patrick Fowler will serve back-to-back life sentences without parole.
— Ben Jordan (@BenJordan3) May 5, 2017
Despite Fowler's wishes, the judge ordered that he appear in court for his sentencing - how he entered surprised everyone in the room. Fowler was carted into the courtroom with hair covering his face with two pointed parts looking like the devil. The exact nickname the parents of the victims now call him.
"I'm living the worst nightmare any father or grandfather could ever imagine," said the father and grandfather of the victims Conrad Ellenberger.
Back on March 19, 2016, Fowler brutally stabbed Ellenberger and her daughter after an argument.
He then set the house on fire and fled the state. Conrad Ellenberger shared a statement about how happy their lives were before this tragedy.
"She helped me with gardening, we went for bike rides, we threw pennies off the footbridge and made wishes," he said.
The victims’ mother and grandmother talked about the pain they live with to this day.
“Those among countless other horrors are what fill my mind now and cut through my heart just like the knives that sliced through my babies,” said Annette Ellenberger.
After all the heartbreak and misery the Ellenbergers have dealt with, Fowler gave no apology.
"I maintain my innocence,” he said. “I care about them too."
Milwaukee County Judge Mark Sanders ultimately took the state's suggestion of back-to-back life sentences without the opportunity for parole.
"Because of the enormously horrific nature of this crime, the only sentence that is appropriate in this case is that you will serve life in Wisconsin state prison without the possibility of parole," Sanders said.
It was a decision the victims' family said they've been hoping and praying for.
"It does give us the beginning now where we can start to heal, we can start to move forward," Ellenberger said.
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