VISTA (CNS) - A man convicted of killing his girlfriend at an Encinitas home the couple shared was sentenced Tuesday to 55 years to life in state prison.
Henry Cowen, 43, was found guilty of first-degree murder last month for the killing of 43-year-old Sabrina Lukosky, who was reported missing by her family on Oct. 3, 2019.
RELATED: Man convicted of murder in girlfriend's Encinitas slaying
Less than a week later, San Diego County sheriff's deputies were alerted to a foul odor near the home on Summit Avenue. Lukosky's body was found inside a small structure on the rear part of the property.
An autopsy revealed she had been strangled, and that several of her ribs had been broken.
A warrant was obtained for Cowen's arrest and he was taken into custody in Riverside about three days after the victim's body was discovered.
At Cowen's sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Marnie Layon argued for the highest sentence possible, which was the 55-to-life term ultimately imposed by San Diego Superior Court Judge Kelly Mok.
The prosecutor said Cowen has a history of violent conduct, including an assault conviction in which he struck an acquaintance in the head with a microphone stand, and multiple alleged assaults on previous girlfriends.
In the murder case, Layon said the defendant never expressed any remorse regarding Lukosky's death, and said, "I don't think (remorse) is something he's capable of. I don't think he has it in him."
The prosecutor told Mok, "He has no remorse at all for a woman that he supposedly loved and he left her in the care of maggots and flies. That's how much she meant to him."
Copyright 2021, City News Service, Inc.
