NEW YORK, Dec. 10 -- A New York City man who kidnapped and then killed a college student by burning her alive was sentenced Tuesday to the maximum of 58 years to life in prison by a judge who said he wished he could impose the death penalty. Joshua Torres, 23, was convicted last month of abducting Kimberly Antonakos in March 1995 and then murdering the 20-year-old woman when he and his accomplices bungled an attempt to extort ransom from her father.
Antonakos was grabbed outside her home in Brooklyn, tossed into the trunk of a car, and driven to an abandoned house in Queens where she was held for three days in an unheated basement while gagged and tied to a pole. Torres, whose girlfriend was a close pal of Antonakos, pretended he was helping the missing woman's father find her during the ordeal. Then, after the father failed to respond to a $75,000 ransom demand because his answering machine did not record the call, Torres doused Antonakos with gasoline and lit a match. 'I must admit that hearing this testimony almost brought me to tears,' said Queens state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Demakos, who said that the case cried out for the death penalty, which was not in effect when the murder took place. Instead, Demakos gave Torres 25 years to life for murder, 25 years to life for kidnapping, and 8 to 25 years for arson -- all to be served consecutively. Torres offered condolences to the Antonakos family, but he also claimed he was innocent and was being sentenced for the work of an alleged accomplice who was later killed. Torres was acquitted of that slaying. Another man, Nicholas Libretti, 19, is awaiting trial for his alleged role in the abduction and slaying.
