CBS / Texas Department of Corrections Maria Sosa was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for hiring a hit man to kill her husband Ramon.
Tonight on an episode of 48 Hours, Ramon Sosa discusses working with investigators to fake his own death after learning his wife hired a hitman to kill him.
According to the sneak peek, Sosa is a family man who was able to live after climbing out of his own “grave.” Correspondent Peter Van Sant investigates the story, which includes interviews with Sosa himself.
ABC 13 reported that in July of 2015, Maria Sosa paid $500 plus her husband’s wedding ring to a man who she thought was a hitman but was actually an undercover officer. Other sources report that the payment was $2,000 plus her husband’s truck.
Ramon Sosa is a boxing coach in the Houston area. He faked his own death with the help of officers after learning his wife had tried to hire a hitman to kill him. The couple was going through a divorce at the time, but Ramon had to continue living under the same roof as Maria Sosa while he worked with investigators to make sure his wife would go to jail for what she’d done.
Read on to learn more about Maria “Lulu” Sosa’s trial and prison sentence.
Maria Sosa Is Serving Up to 20 Years in Prison
LOOK: What would have been Ramon’s final resting place was actually part of a complex sting operation. Find out more, tonight at 10/9c. t.co/UDv9yYkZvx
According to The Courier of Montgomery County, Maria Sosa was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree felony solicitation of capital murder. She was originally facing a sentence of up to life in prison, but she took a deal to get the charges decreased from first-degree felony solicitation of capital murder to second-degree.
Currently, Sosa is located at the Christina Melton Crain Unit and has a projected release date of October 18, 2023. She was eligible for parole in October 2017, according to the Texas Department of Corrections.
Ramon Sosa told the Courier that he believes the sentence is fair for what she did, and he was relieved that the trial was over.
“I heard all the evidence,” he said in his victim impact statement, as reported by the Courier. “I couldn’t believe it. It was horrible. I couldn’t sleep thinking about all the things you said about how you wanted to kill me.”
Maria Sosa Was Denied for Parole in 2019
This man is NOT dead, but he was supposed to be. How far was he willing to go to find his would-be killer?
Find out more, tonight at 10/9c. t.co/xSwr1ZD11K
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Maria Sosa’s last parole decision took place on September 30, 2019.
She was denied for parole based on her offense having “elements of brutality, violence, assaultive behavior, or conscious selection of victim’s vulnerability indicating a conscious disregard for the lives, safety, or property of others.” The decision said the offender still “poses a continuing threat to public safety.”
Her next parole decision date will be sometime in September 2020.
Speaking to The Sun, Ramon Sosa detailed how surreal it was when he learned his wife was trying to have him killed.
“The words kind of hung in the air for a split second and when I began to process the message, the words fell into my brain one by one,” he told the outlet. “From that point on, so many thoughts began crossing my mind!… After the reality set in I became angry, sad and confused.”
He said that in the period between him learning what his wife’s plans were and her being arrested he had to sleep “with the enemy” and keep “one eye open, all while trying to act as ‘normal’ as possible.”
He told The Sun that he feels “lucky to be alive” today.
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