The mother of a young woman who was strangled, shot and burned to death confronted her daughter’s convicted killer in a Louisiana courtroom on Thursday, telling him: “I hope you burn in hell.”
Jolene Dufresne told Troy Varnado she wished he could meet the same horrific fate as her daughter, Lindsay Nichols, who was dumped in the trunk of a blue Jaguar that was set on fire on Michoud Boulevard in New Orleans East on June 21, 2015, the Advocate reports.
“I hope that it will haunt you too, but I doubt it will,” Dufresne said, referring to the disturbing 911 call that Nichols, 31, made moments before her death, frantically pleading with an operator for help.
Dufresne said she hopes Varnado, 30, endures a “miserable” life in prison after being convicted by a jury last month of second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping and obstruction of justice in Nichols’ death.
Prosecutors said Varnado killed Nichols because he was enraged that she refused to have sex with him when she went to the apartment of Varnado’s co-defendant, Thayon Sansom, after a night of clubbing.
“My heart tells me your family did not raise you to be this evil person,” Dufresne told Varnado. “But I don’t have one ounce of compassion for you.”
Later, she told Varnado flatly: “I hope you burn in hell.”
A judge sentenced Varnado to life in prison, as well as 40 years each on the kidnapping and obstruction of justice counts, the Times-Picayune reports. Sansom pleaded guilty earlier this month to manslaughter, kidnapping and other charges and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Jessica Barrios, Nichols’ childhood friend, said the woman’s last moments were spent in “complete fear and pain.”
“That day has changed my whole opinion of the people in this world,” Barrios said Thursday.
Nichols, who worked as a timekeeper at Texas construction sites, is survived by a 9-year-old son, a boy whose mother will never again attend his basketball games or stand by his side at his high school graduation, Dufresne said.
Varnado continued to maintain his innocence in the killing, giving a brief statement to the court prior to sentencing, according to the Times-Picayune.
“I want to also say that this isn’t justice for Lindsay,” Varnado said. “Justice would be getting the people who done this.”
Varnado told Nichols’ friends and family who attended Thursday’s hearing that the mother of his children died about two years ago.
“For what it’s worth, I know what you’re going through,” he said.
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