{"id":433479,"date":"2026-10-20T23:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T23:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/433479\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T23:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T23:52:14","slug":"killer-who-suffocated-wife-girls-should-be-executed-jury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/433479\/","title":{"rendered":"Killer who suffocated wife, girls should be executed: jury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Alberto<\/p>\n

Alberto Sierra sits beside his attorneys Joyce Brenner, right, and Khurrum Wahid, left, as the verdict is read in his death penalty sentencing trial on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. The jury recommended that Sierra be sent to Death Row for murdering his wife and her two young daughters.<\/p>\n

Carl Juste<\/p>\n

cjuste@miamiherald<\/p>\n

Alberto Sierra, who admitted to snuffing out the lives of his estranged wife and her two young daughters with a plastic Sedano\u2019s Supermarket bag, should be executed for his crimes, a jury said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Sierra, 42, closed his eyes as the verdict was read before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez. Sierra admitted to suffocating his estranged wife, Gladys Machado, 29, and her daughters Julia, 6, and Daniela, 3, with a plastic bag on Nov. 10, 2012. Their bodies were found three days later inside a closet at the Flagami home they once shared.<\/p>\n

\"Julia, Julia, 6, and Daniela, 3, were killed alongside their mother Gladys Machado, 29, on Nov. 10, 2012. Handout <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Fate of killer who suffocated his wife, her young girls is in hands of the jury<\/a><\/p>\n

Loved ones of Machado, Julia and Daniela teared up and comforted each other on hearing the jury\u2019s recommendation. The jury voted to sentence Sierra to death for the murders of Machado, Julia and Daniela after more than five hours of deliberation.<\/p>\n

\"Michael Michael Padrino Jr., the son and brother of the victims, cries as the verdict is read in Alberto Sierra\u2019s death penalty sentencing trial on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. The jury recommended that Sierra be sent to Death Row for murdering his wife and her two young daughters. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

Jurors recommended death for Machado\u2019s murder in an 11-1 vote, for Julia\u2019s killing in a unanimous vote and for Daniela in an 8-4 vote. Michael Padrino Jr., Machado\u2019s son and Julia and Daniela\u2019s brother, put his head in his hands and was shaking as the verdicts were announced.<\/p>\n

\"Prosecutor Prosecutor Mary Ernst hugs Channon Castro, one of the victims\u2019 friends, after the verdict is read in Alberto Sierra\u2019s death penalty sentencing trial on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. The jury recommended that Sierra be sent to Death Row for murdering his wife and her two young daughters. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

Following the jury\u2019s verdict, Sierra will have another hearing and his formal sentencing. While a jury can recommend life or death, a judge has the final say on whether to impose a death sentence.<\/p>\n

Tinkler Mendez set a hearing for Nov. 2 to schedule those proceedings.<\/p>\n

\"Gladys Gladys Machado, 29, and her two daughters were killed on Nov. 10, 2012. Miami Herald archives <\/p>\n

During closing arguments on Monday, prosecutor Abbe Rifkin urged the jury to recommend a death sentence because it \u201cdoes justice for the brutal, selfish and deliberate killings\u201d of Machado and her two young daughters.<\/p>\n

\"Prosecutor Prosecutor Abbe Rifkin demonstrates the suffocation of one of the young victims as she addresses the jury during closing arguments in the death penalty sentencing trial of Alberto Sierra on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

\u201cThey all had to die because that\u2019s what that person, Alberto Sierra, decided was the best way to save himself,\u201d Rifkin said. \u201cThree lives, three futures. One irreversible crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Khurrum Wahid highlighted that Sierra admitted to the \u201cmonstrous act\u201d and will be held accountable. Wahid also pointed to how Sierra was pummeled by a car in 1996 while he was skating as a 12-year-old boy. That incident, he said, left Sierra with a \u201cbroken brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Defense Defense attorney Khurrum Wahid addresses the jury regarding Sierra\u2019s brain injury during closing arguments in the death penalty sentencing trial of Alberto Sierra on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Killer who suffocated wife, her 2 girls has \u2018extensive brain damage,\u2019 expert says<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a normal, healthy brain,\u201d Wahid said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot here that doesn\u2019t make sense unless you look at it through that lens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murders were \u2018ice cold\u2019<\/p>\n

For a final time on Monday, Rifkin recounted how the ordinary Saturday of shopping ended with Machado, Julia and Daniela being brutalized and stuffed in a closet inside the home they once shared with Sierra.<\/p>\n

On the day of the murders, Sierra had joined the family on a shopping outing to Mall of the Americas to purchase a birthday gift for Daniela, who was days shy of turning 4. Machado had picked Sierra up from his mother\u2019s Kendall home in her gold Nissan Altima.<\/p>\n

At the mall, they bought clothes and took the girls out for ice cream. When they get back into Machado\u2019s car, Machado received a call from a new love interest, enraging Sierra.<\/p>\n

Sierra attacked Machado with a knife in the car, cutting her hand and causing her to bleed profusely. The girls, Sierra said, tried to defend their mother. He elbowed them to contain them in the backseat. Julia and Daniela, Sierra said, were repeatedly exclaiming \u201cPapi, no, Papi, no.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Prosecutor Prosecutor Mary Ernst cries after the verdict is read in Alberto Sierra\u2019s death penalty sentencing trial on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. The jury recommended that Sierra be sent to Death Row for murdering his wife and her two young daughters. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

When they arrived at the home, Sierra said he wanted to check Machado\u2019s phone, but Machado refused to give up her passcode. Sierra then tied Machado\u2019s hands up with a nylon rope and threatened her with a knife. She ultimately gave him the passcode.<\/p>\n

Machado was kidnapped, humiliated and tortured for hours, Rifkin said, with Sierra using her body as a \u201cpin cushion for his knife.\u201d Sierra stabbed, sliced and carved parts of Machado\u2019s face and body before and after she died, the prosecutor said. The corners of her mouth were carved, and she had a curved slice on her chin under her lips that Rifkin said looked like a smiley face.<\/p>\n

After several hours of tormenting Machado, Sierra placed his leg on her chest to keep her from moving and wrapped a yellow Sedano\u2019s Supermarket plastic bag over her face. She was kicking and struggling, Sierra said, causing him to turn his face away so he wouldn\u2019t have to look at her struggling to breathe.<\/p>\n

\"Prosecutor Prosecutor Abbe Rifkin covers her face as the verdict is read in Alberto Sierra\u2019s death penalty sentencing trial on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. The jury recommended that Sierra be sent to Death Row for murdering his wife and her two young daughters. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Evidence shows mother, 2 girls suffered \u2018slow death\u2019 as killer suffocated them<\/a><\/p>\n

Sierra ultimately decided to cut off Machado\u2019s shirt and bra with a pair of scissors and had sex with Machado\u2019s body. He told detectives he stopped 10 minutes into the act because it \u201cwasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n

About an hour later, Sierra then he grabbed the same plastic bag he used to kill Machado, pulled back Julia\u2019s hair and placed it over her face. Julia, he said in his confession to police, was kicking and trying to break free, so he used his body weight to restrain her and his knees to pin her arms to the bed.<\/p>\n

\"Michael Michael Padrino Jr., the son and brother of the victims, is consoled by his adoptive mother and his mother\u2019s friend as the verdict is read in Alberto Sierra\u2019s death penalty sentencing trial on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. The jury recommended that Sierra be sent to Death Row for murdering his wife and her two young daughters. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

Sierra told detectives he sexually assaulted the girl\u2019s body for about five minutes before \u201crealizing it was wrong.\u201d But the blood and nature of the injuries to Julia\u2019s genitals, which a forensic pathologist described as being \u201cpulled apart,\u201d indicated the child was alive and likely in significant pain during the rape, Rifkin said.<\/p>\n

Sierra turned to Daniela, who was sleeping face down on her bed. Sierra said he crept up behind the toddler and straddled her body, covering her head with the bag.<\/p>\n

When confronted with the mounting evidence against him, Sierra confessed, detailing calmly how he snuffed the lives of Machado, Julia and Daniela with the yellow plastic bag, before having sex with the bodies of Machado and Julia.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Killer calmly confessed to suffocating his wife, her 2 girls with a plastic bag<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t get colder than this,\u201d Rifkin said. \u201cThis was ice, ice cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Prosecutor Prosecutor Abbe Rifkin holds a set of family pictures shown to the jury during the sixth day of the sentencing trial of Alberto Sierra on Oct. 6, 2026. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

This story was originally published October 20, 2026 at 6:28 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Grethel Aguila<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Grethel covers courts and the criminal justice system for the Miami Herald. She graduated from the University of Florida (Go Gators!), speaks Spanish and Arabic and loves animals, traveling, basketball and good storytelling. Grethel also attends law school part time.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alberto Sierra sits beside his attorneys Joyce Brenner, right, and Khurrum Wahid, left, as the verdict is read…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-433479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}