A man’s future is all but sealed after he was convicted and sentenced for the “brutal” murder of a business owner in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Juan Carlos Hernandez, 22, was ordered to serve life in prison plus 21 years in the slaying of 45-year-old Sihui Fang in January 2022, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman announced on Wednesday. Hernandez was found guilty by a jury in August 2024 of first-degree murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, and conspiracy.

Hernandez had entered Fang’s business, Wonderful Massage, on Jan. 24, 2022, pretending to be a customer. He then forced her to let his accomplice, Jorge Rivera-Ramirez, enter, and the two men went about robbing her, CBS affiliate KRQE reported at the time.

Hernandez’s actions were captured by surveillance footage from inside the business, with Hernandez “grabbing Fang by her hair and dragging her to the back of the building, where the execution-style killing occurred,” the district attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors maintained that Hernandez was the aggressor between the two men in the “planned” robbery. He was 19 at the time, and Rivera-Ramirez was 18.

“This is where the violence begins, and Mr. Hernandez never stops being violent, not once,” prosecutor Jordan Machin said at the man’s trial, per KRQE video showing the man holding Fang at gunpoint.

The surveillance footage showed Fang trying to run away from her captors, but Hernandez pulled her back toward him. When she reportedly grabbed a gun to defend herself, she was shot 18 times by the men.

According to the local outlet, Fang managed to fire her gun before she was killed, and Rivera-Ramirez called 911 for medical help from gunshot wounds. Hernandez is said to have run away, and he wasn’t booked into the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center until Feb. 8, 2022, court records show.

Rivera-Ramirez was sentenced in April of this year to life in prison plus 18 years, Bregman – the district attorney – announced at the time.

Fang was remembered as “a once-in-a-lifetime incredible human being.”

“This beautiful, amazing person was taken from us when she was killed in a robbery at her business,” her obituary read. “The world has lost the brightest of lights, and we have lost a gentle, caring, loving soul who literally had a heart of gold. We will keep her in our hearts and will miss her forever.”

Hernandez apologized in court, saying he was “ashamed of my actions but making the first steps as a young man, asking for your sincere forgiveness.”