A Michigan man, convicted of the brutal murder of a 30-year-old father, will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Joshua Pirtle, 33, faced his sentencing remotely via Zoom from the Jackson County Jail on Friday. He was not physically present in the courtroom as a judge handed down the life sentence. During the hearing, Pirtle reportedly disconnected the call while the family of the victim, Sebastian Igafo-Teo, delivered their emotional statements. However, he was compelled to reconnect to hear their words, as reported by MLive, a local news source.

Addressing Pirtle, Jackie Igafo-Teo, Sebastian’s mother, expressed her grief and anger, stating, “You stalked him, you harassed him, you threatened him, and you stabbed him until he was basically a pile on the floor.”

She further criticized Pirtle for his absence, saying, “I’ve been sitting in this court for hundreds of hours over the last two years, and you don’t even have the courage to come in here on the last day.”

Pirtle was convicted by a jury on October 30, marking just over two years since the day Sebastian Igafo-Teo was discovered dead in his own home. The jury took three hours to unanimously find Pirtle guilty on all charges, including first-degree murder, according to MLive.

The incident occurred on October 25, 2023, when Pirtle, along with his girlfriend, Klaira Diann Mishaw, 29, visited Igafo-Teo’s home with a mutual friend, Mathew Kush. A verbal dispute erupted, during which Pirtle accused the others of various offenses, such as owing him $10,000, having an affair with his girlfriend, and child abuse. When Igafo-Teo asked Pirtle to leave, Pirtle reacted violently, first attacking Igafo-Teo and then turning his aggression towards Kush.

During the altercation, Pirtle yelled, “Kill the lights.” The home went dark, and Kush scrambled out of the apartment. Kush testified that he called Jackie Igafo-Teo and told her to check on her son.

Sebastian Igafo-Teo was found by his mother and father, dead after being stabbed 73 times. They immediately called 911.

Pirtle then fled the scene with Mishaw in his victim’s stolen truck. Police investigating Sebastian Igafo-Teo’s death tracked down the truck while Pirtle was behind the wheel. Pirtle led police on a chase until he crashed the truck into a home and a utility pole in Jackson, Michigan. Both were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries before they were arrested and charged with open murder.

Mishaw pleaded no contest to being an accessory to murder in June. She was sentenced to three years’ probation.

In addition to his murder conviction, Pirtle was found guilty of two counts of assault with intent to murder, car theft, and third-degree fleeing and eluding police.

Before handing the case over to the jury, Jackson County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Meaghan McKeon told the court that Pirtle had been posting accusations directed at Sebastian Igafo-Teo for months on Facebook as part of some “unresolved grievance,” according to MLive. When he showed up at Sebastian Igafo-Teo’s home on Oct. 25, 2023, he intended to kill him, and not “to injure him or to scare him or to teach him a lesson.”

Despite police testifying that they found a knife with Sebastian Igafo-Teo’s blood and hair on the lawn of the home Pirtle crashed into, as well as his victim’s blood under his fingernails, Pirtle denied having anything to do with the murder during his sentencing. Over Zoom, he told the court, “We need to find out who really did it. It’s a tragedy what happened, but wrongly convicting someone just to be able to point the finger is not right for any side.”

When he tried to interrupt Jackie Igafo-Teo during her statement, she held up her finger and said, “I don’t want to talk to you anymore. You’re done.”