Previous coverage: Man accused of killing girlfriend appears in court<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 The state will seek the death penalty against a Tampa man charged with first-degree murder and accused of stabbing his girlfriend 65 times, the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said.<\/p>\n
State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit Court Suzy Lopez told 8 On Your Side the aggravating factors that are necessary for the death penalty are present in this case.<\/p>\n
“The state legislature gives us enumerated aggravators. And here in this case, this crime was perpetrated in a very heinous, atrocious and cruel way. Those are actually the words the legislature has given us,” she said.<\/p>\n
Lopez said another aggravating factor was that the stabbing happened during the course of an alleged kidnapping.<\/p>\n
“We have evidence to believe that Amanda was trying to escape, was trying to get out of that townhouse when she was stabbed 65 times by this defendant,” she said.<\/p>\n
Kyle Sanchez<\/a>, 36, called police the afternoon of Friday, June 19, and admitted to killing the victim, 37-year-old Amanda Roark.<\/p>\n \u00a0Tampa woman arrested for murder of girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter: SAO\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Minutes earlier, Roark called 911 herself and could be heard begging Sanchez for her life as he attacked her.<\/p>\n “Please stop, you’re killing me,” the victim was heard saying, according to court documents.<\/p>\n When police arrived at the Tampa home, Sanchez opened the door covered in Roark’s blood, and she was pronounced dead with approximately 65 stab wounds.<\/p>\n