A Texas killer who felt "guilty" about dismembering a teen sex worker was sentenced to over four decades in prison for the grisly slaying.
Henry David Cossette, 29, was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of 18-year-old Sara Ann Goodwin at his Houston-area apartment on Feb. 6, 2022, according to prosecutors.
Cossette picked up Goodwin in an area known for prostitution and brought her back to his apartment, where he strangled her to death.
He then dismembered her body in his bathtub, stuffed her body parts into several trash bags, and dumped the bags in a rural area 13 miles away from his home.
Two weeks later, he attempted to kill himself by setting fire to his third-floor apartment.
"He tried to burn down his apartment in order to kill himself, and then police and HFD got called out and he told them all he felt guilty about what he did," Harris County Assistant District Attorney Helen Le said in a statement. "Guilt or innocence was never the issue in this case."
Goodwin was reported missing by a friend shortly after Cossette picked her up. Her friend, who was monitoring the location of her phone, called the police when they realized Goodwin's phone died.
"This young lady had her whole life ahead of her and did not deserve to lose her life," Dana Nazarova, a chief in the DA's Homicide Division said. "She didn't have a chance to fight back, and it was this defendant's intentional acts that killed her – he was on top of her, choking her as she took her last breath."
