TAMPA, Fla. — A murder case that shocked the Tampa Bay area may come to an end nearly 20 years later.
A judge is set to decide if Steven Lorenzo should live or die after he admitted to the brutal rape, torture and murder of Jason Galehouse and Michael Wachholtz in 2003.
Lorenzo is due back in court for a status review hearing on Monday with sentencing set for Friday.
Lorenzo has told the judge he wants the death sentence. It's what the state and loved ones of the two men believe he deserves.
"You do not deserve to be living today, and even tomorrow. You should be dead already," Galehouse's mother Pam Williams said when she testified in court earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Wachholtz's mother Ruth said a death penalty would be an eye for an eye.
"He should no longer breathe. My son doesn't. So why should he?" Ruth Wachholtz said.
Both of the women's children were 26 years old when they vanished and were killed. In a 147-page document, Lorenzo detailed how he lured, drugged, tortured and killed the two men.
Lorenzo has waived his right to a jury trial and is defending himself. He implied in a note that the case would go nowhere with or without trial.
Wachholtz's body was found weeks after his murder, but Galehouse's body has never been found after Lorenzo stated he dismembered him.
While Williams isn't able to bury her son, her wish for vindication may come true this week after nearly twenty years.
"I want to see him get the death penalty. Nothing less. No deals. The death penalty," Williams said in an interview three years ago.
Lorenzo's co-defendant, Scott Schweickert, is already in prison after pleading guilty to the Wachholtz and Galehouse's murders.
This month, Schweickert testified in Lorenzo's hearing, along with other men who said they've faced similar abuses from him.
Lorenzo is currently serving time on drug convictions that are also in connection with Galehouse and Wachholtz.