Man Convicted of Murdering Ex-Girlfriend, Stabbing Her 32 Times

A Massachusetts man was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend after she started dating someone else, stabbing her 32 times in 2015, on Wednesday.

Following a three-week trial in Hampden Superior Court, the jury needed a day of deliberations to find Nickolas Lacrosse guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Kathryn Mauke. On Thursday, the Springfield man was sentenced to life in prison, reports the Associated Press.

Mauke was found dead on her kitchen floor on Feb. 11, 2015, reports MassLive. She broke up with Mauke, now 23, weeks earlier and began dating another person, according to testimony.

Lacrosse's attorney, Alan J. Black, argued that his client was in a "dissociative state" when he killed Mauke, so he should not have been held responsible for the death.

On May 18, Lacrosse testified that he did not recall killing Mauke. He said he visited her on Feb. 11, 2015 for "clarification" on the reason for the break-up. He remembered their conversation turning into an angry argument. The room went blurry, although he could still see Mauke in clear focus. The next thing he remembered was standing on a street corner outside her house, Lacrosse testified, reports MassLive.

However, Lacrosse went back into the house because he thought something was wrong. He told Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom he saw Mauke's legs and "believed" she was dead.

"This was the woman who was the love of your life, according to you, correct?" Sandstrom asked.

"I've never used those words, but I guess you could say so, yes," Lacrosse replied.

At Lacrosse's sentencing hearing, Mauke's family remembered her as a kind and passionate person.

"When I wake in the morning the sun doesn't seem to shine as brightly as it once did. ... Trying to focus on the present and future has become difficult," her father, Daniel Mauke, said, reports MassLive. "Kathryn was a passionate, understanding, intelligent, vibrant young woman who was driven to achieve her goals. Her dream was to be in a position to affect attitude and policies that would change the world and I truly believe she would have accomplished anything she set out to do."

Her mother, Jennifer Mauke, listed the milestones her daughter will never experience, pointing out that her daughter died before she completed high school.

"She wasn't able to go to college, fall in love, get married, have children," Jennifer Mauke said. "All of these things were taken away from her on Wednesday, February 11, when the defendant decided to come into my home and take my child away."

Photo credit: Facebook/Kathryn Mauke