Alexis Herrera (left), Laura Ramirez (inset top), Jose Salazar-Ortiz Sr. (inset bottom) (via Allegheny County Jail). Right: Bella Rae Seachrist (Burket-Truby Funeral Home)
A 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman will be the third and final person to go prison for killing a 3-year-old girl who was tortured and beaten to death in horrific fashion.
Alexis Herrera will join her sister and brother-in-law behind bars after pleading guilty to a spate of felonies in connection with the slaying of young Bella Rae Seachrist, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Specifically, Herrera pleaded guilty to counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful restraint, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, and one general charge of criminal homicide.
By pleading to the latter open-ended homicide charge, rather than a specific category of homicide such as first-degree, second-degree, or manslaughter, Herrera will leave herself at the mercy of Allegheny County Judge Bruce R. Beemer.
Beemer will preside over a yet-to-be scheduled “degree of guilt hearing,” wherein both sides will present evidence of Herrera’s culpability — or lack thereof — in Bella’s murder. The judge will then decide whether she was guilty of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, or involuntary manslaughter, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Herrera, who faces a sentence that could range anywhere from 10 years to life without parole, will join her sister, Laura Ramirez, and her brother-in-law, Jose Salazar-Ortiz Sr., in a prison for Bella’s death.
Salazar-Ortiz, Bella’s biological father, was convicted in a nonjury trial before Beemer of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy. In August 2023, he was ordered to serve a sentence of 33 to 66 years behind bars.
Beemer similarly found Ramirez, Bella’s stepmother who was largely considered the mastermind of the torture and abuse, guilty of first-degree murder and ordered her to serve a sentence of life without the possibility of parole plus an additional 37 to 74 years.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, authorities said that prior to her death, Bella was “tortured” and “looked like a child out of a concentration camp.”
According to a press release from the Allegheny County Police Department, officers on the afternoon of June 9, 2020, responded to an emergency call at a residence located on Tenth Street regarding a report that a 3-year-old child — later identified as Bella — was “unresponsive” in a bathtub.
“When officers and paramedics arrived, they found the child appearing to be badly bruised and malnourished. Officers and medics performed life saving measures and transported the child to an area hospital where the child was pronounced deceased,” the release stated.
Investigators determined that the victim “suffered from prolonged physical and mental abuse” and that Salazar-Ortiz, Ramriez, and Herrera were all to blame.
The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Bella determined that the child’s manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was severe long-term abuse and neglect. The 3-year-old was emaciated to the point that her bones were visible through her skin and she was so malnourished that her hair was falling out. Despite being on the verge of turning 4 years old, Bella weighed less than 30 pounds.
Authorities said she was regularly forced to endure brutal beatings
During Ramirez’s sentencing hearing, Beemer unleashed a diatribe over the trio’s heinous treatment of the little girl.
“There was no other possible result, based on what occurred day after day, week after week, month after month, but for her to die in one of the most horrific ways possible,” he said. “The pain, the hunger — I cannot envision a worse fate for that child than the one she suffered at your hands in that house in Oakmont.”
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