A man from Florida has been sentenced to over four decades in prison following a devastating hit-and-run incident that claimed the lives of a mother and her two teenage daughters. He was driving at nearly 100 mph in an area where the speed limit was just 30 mph.

Julius Bernstein, age 27, received a 45-year prison sentence on Friday for causing the deaths of Cynthia Orsa Telliz and her daughters, 15-year-old Sophia Saidi and 12-year-old Maria Saidi, in North Bay Village, close to Miami. Last month, a jury found him guilty of vehicular homicide and fleeing the scene of a fatal accident.

On June 27, 2022, Bernstein was driving his Dodge Charger at a staggering 109 mph on Miami’s John F. Kennedy Causeway. He had slowed to approximately 97 mph when he collided with Telliz’s vehicle, according to an arrest affidavit. Telliz was attempting a left turn when her Infiniti G35 burst into flames upon impact.

Emergency personnel arrived quickly and attempted to rescue those involved. They managed to extract Telliz from the vehicle, but tragically, they were unable to save her daughters.

“They burned alive,” officers noted in the affidavit.

Bernstein never bothered to try to help or call 911. Instead, he ran away, leaving a blood trail from his injuries. Authorities issued an arrest warrant following the crash and took him into custody in North Carolina in 2023.

Samir Saidi, Telliz’s husband and the father of the two girls, addressed the court during sentencing.

“My family — their lives were taken from me,” he said, according to a courtroom report from local ABC affiliate WPLG. “I cannot forgive this individual.”

Telliz’s brother, Omar Orstelliz, said he often thinks about the brutal way in which his sister and nieces died.

“Being left alone in their final moments is something we live with every day,” he reportedly said.