Man gets life for killing girlfriend, her friend because he felt 'humiliated'

GREEN BAY, Wis. (TCD) -- A judge ordered a 49-year-old man to serve two consecutive life sentences in prison for killing his girlfriend and her friend in January 2023.

WITI-TV reports that in addition to the life sentences without parole, Richard Sotka must also pay over $16,000 in restitution.

Sotka was convicted in March of two counts of first-degree intentional homicide with use of a dangerous weapon, criminal damage to property, and multiple counts of bail jumping for the deaths of Rhonda Cegelski and Paula O’Connor.

On Jan. 29, 2023, Green Bay Police responded to Cegelski's home and found the two women stabbed to death. Sotka fled Wisconsin, but he was apprehended the same day in Arkansas.

According to the affidavit cited by WFRV-TV, Sotka and Cegelski were in a relationship, and on the day of the killings, he reportedly walked in on Cegelski and O’Connor in a "compromising position." He then violently stabbed both of them, causing "very large" cuts. One of the victims reportedly still had the knife in her neck when police arrived.

Sotka told police he was "humiliated" and he "snapped."

WITI reports Sotka will appeal his conviction because he argues he killed Cegelski and O’Connor in self-defense. He reportedly said at the sentencing hearing that people want him to "show remorse," adding, "I feel nothing."

Judge Beau Liegois told Sotka, "This is somebody who was a daughter, a sister, a friend, a mother and a grandmother even, who you basically just wiped off the face of the earth because you felt a little bit insulted."

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