BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama handyman found guilty of fatally beating the owners of a motel with his hammer and then cutting the throat of one of the victims was sentenced to death on Wednesday.
A Jefferson County jury deliberated 35 minutes before unanimously recommending a death sentence for Steven Richard Mulkey, 32, of Birmingham, AL.com reported.
Mulkey was convicted on two counts of capital murder Monday in the 2018 deaths of Ching Kao, 77, and Siumei Kao, 76, according to WIAT-TV. Mulkey had been hired by the couple as a handyman for the Siesta Motel in Irondale, according to the television station.
The couple was killed on Sept. 16, 2018, according to AL.com. The assaults were captured on motel surveillance cameras, the news outlet reported.
The couple was fatally bludgeoned with Mulkey’s hammer and Siumei Kao’s throat had been slit, according to AL.com.
The Kaos were reported missing by their daughter, WIAT reported. Police arriving at the motel found blood in the office and viewed the camera footage of the couple being beaten.
Their decomposed bodies were found more than a week later in a remote area in Leeds, about 9 1/2 miles away, according to the television station.
Mulkey was arrested shortly after by U.S. Marshals in Virginia, WBRC-TV reported. He was extradited to Alabama and booked into the Jefferson County Jail on Oct. 24, 2018, online records show.
“We recognize that a death sentence is an extreme and final sentence, but the defendant earned this sentence with the senseless, brutal murder of Mr. and Mrs. Kao,’’ Jefferson County Chief Deputy District Attorney Joe Roberts told AL.com. “The jury took this case very seriously.”
After the guilty verdicts were announced on Monday, the court’s sentencing phase began and lasted until Wednesday. It did not take long for a conviction, and the judge followed the panel’s recommendation.
Mulkey, attorneys, Chris Daniel and Scott Brower, declined to comment after the sentence was handed down, AL.com reported.