Massachusetts Teen Sentenced To Life In Prison For 2016 Beheading Classmate

A Massachusetts teen on Tuesday was given life in prison for beheading his high school classmate in November 2016. Mathew Borges, 18, was found guilty in May for the murder of 16-year-old Lee Manuel Villoria-Paulino.

Paulino’s body was discovered decapitated and missing the hands on the bank of the Merrimack River near Lawrence, Massachusetts. Medical examiners identified a total of 76 wounds on Paulino’s body. It is uncertain if they were inflicted before or after his death.

Borges was arrested weeks after Paulino's death. Investigators and prosecutors believed Borges committed the act out of jealousy because Paulino had been spending time with his girlfriend. While other teens robbed the house of Paulino’s family, Borges reportedly led him outside and killed him.

Borges, who was 15 years old at the time of the murder, was sentenced by Judge Helene Kazanjian to a double life sentence with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

“There is no sentence I can impose that will bring back Lee Paulino, or that will answer the questions that we all have about how this happened, and how a 15-year-old boy could kill a friend in this manner,” Kazanjian said during sentencing.

The sentencing came after Paulino’s tearful mother addressed the court, saying Borges “should never have the opportunity to kill again, to rob another person of their life.”

“Every day we struggle with the fact that his life was cut too short,” she said. “We drove ourselves crazy trying to make sense of what had been done.”

However, Borges attorney Edward Hayden expressed hope that Borges can turn his life around.

“He is not irredeemably depraved. There is hope for his redemption. He can change his life,” Hayden said following the sentencing.

Hayden also maintains that Borges was only a child at the time of the murder, arguing that he could be rehabilitated and receive a second chance after 25 years served.