'ROT AND BURN': Man skips his sentencing for brutal murder of mother-of-four Uber driver
'ROT AND BURN': Man skips his sentencing for brutal murder of mother-of-four Uber driver
Calvin Crew, left, was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of Christina Spicuzza, a Pittsburgh-area mother of four who was making a living as an Uber driver. (Credit: Handout)
A Pennsylvania man convicted in February of the murder of a mother of four will spend the rest of his days behind bars.
The sentencing of Calvin Crew, 26, was a formality inside a Pittsburgh courtroom on Monday as first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence in the state.
Crew did not attend his sentencing.
Christina Spicuzza was 38 years old when she was shot dead on Feb. 10, 2022 while making a living as an Uber driver.
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According to dashcam footage obtained by police and released by the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, Spicuzza picked up Crew that evening after his girlfriend ordered a ride.
In the video, what appeared to be a routine ride turned into a kidnapping when Crew took out a gun and pointed it at Spicuzza's head.
'Keep driving,' Crew told her.
Spicuzza asked why he was doing this. 'I have four kids,' she said.
She then asked him to stop but Crew ordered her to continue driving.
'Do what I say and everything will be OK,' Crew said before he pulled down the camera.
Spicuzza was reported missing early the next day by her partner, Brandon Marto, after she didn't return home.
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Her body was found a day later as well as her vehicle.
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Cindy Spicuzza, the victim's mother, said Crew deserved the death penalty but her family asked for mercy and advocated for life in prison.
'You have a life to live,' she told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 'Christi does not.'
Marto said his fiancee had been happy to spend time with her family and her Christian faith was important to her.
'She would want me to tell Calvin Crew he would be saved if he accepted Jesus Christ as his saviour,' he said. 'I want to tell him to rot and burn.'
Crew was also convicted of kidnapping, robbery, carrying a firearm without a licence, inflicting serious bodily injury, theft of a motor vehicle, and tampering with evidence.
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At the sentencing hearing, Marto told Judge Edward J. Borkowski that the first years of his relationship with Spicuzza were rocky, but she showed him a way to a better life.
'When we first got together, I was half lost,' Marto told the judge. 'I was quite out of control, but she saw something in me.'
Marto said he spent the next eight years being a better person than he was at the beginning of their relationship.
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'I had a lifetime to make it right, and that was cut short,' he said.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala said in a statement that Spicuzza's death was a 'brutal senseless execution' following Crew's conviction in February.
'Sadly, this verdict cannot bring Christina back or change the tragedy her family has experienced with her loss, but we hope they are encouraged and find consolation in the justice served.'
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