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Judge denies woman’s attempt to get plea tossed in Chesapeake double murder

Posted at 12:02 PM, Jun 05, 2015
and last updated 2015-06-05 12:02:12-04

Chesapeake, Va. – A judge denied a woman’s attempt Friday to get an earlier plea tossed out in a double homicide case from 2013.

In July of 2013, Airika Liljegren was arrested and charged for the murder of her boyfriend’s mother, Cindy Jensen-Ellet.

Airika Liljegren

Airika Liljegren

Her boyfriend, Ryan Martinez, was arrested and charged for the murder of his step-father, Anthony Barone.

Both bodies were found inside their Chesapeake home on Monarch Reach.

Barone was found shot to death underneath a pile of clothes in a closet upstairs. Jensen-Ellet’s body was found wrapped in a blue tarp, hidden behind cardboard boxes in the garage.

Court documents revealed that Liljegren admitted to police that she stabbed Jensen-Ellett with a filet knife.

Ryan Martinez entered an Alford Plea in November of 2014 for second degree murder and use of a firearm for Barone’s death. He was sentenced in March to a total of 53 years in prison, followed by 12 years of probation.

Liljegren entered an Alford Plea in January. However, she later decided that she wanted a jury trial. She appeared in court on Friday to ask a judge to throw out the Alford Plea so she could have the jury trial. The judge denied her request.

She is now scheduled to be sentenced on July 27th.

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