Tulare County man sentenced to life in prison for suffocating his wife to death
PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- Victor Lopez, 37, has been sentenced for murdering his 31-year-old wife Samantha Lopez, a former Sierra View Hospital social worker in 2018.
On Thursday, a Porterville court sentenced Victor to 25 years to life in prison.
He was convicted on November 7, 2022, for first-degree murder and felony domestic violence causing great bodily injury for suffocating his wife to death.
The couple had two children together. Samantha had four in total. Three of Samantha Lopez's children told investigators they heard Samantha and Victor arguing on a night in November of 2018.
The next morning, one of them said they caught Victor in a lie.
When deputies arrived at the house later, they asked the same girl if she could check to see if her mom was inside the house, because Victor wouldn't let the deputies inside. Deputies left, but concerns over Samantha's whereabouts were mounting, so they came back later and confronted Victor again.
Victor would escape through a window only to be found in an abandoned shed nearby. At around the same time, a sergeant found Samantha Lopez dead inside the bedroom.
The video above is from an earlier story and will be updated.
Stay with ABC30 for the latest details on this developing story.
