In December of 2010 Contreras offered to give his mother-in-law, 50 year-old Argentina Garcia a ride to the bus stop. It was a short distance, but he and Garcia, got into an argument in which he says Garcia told him, quote, "Why would (my daughter) want a loser like you?"

The insult enraged Contreras who punched Garcia twice in the face, and she tried to get out of the vehicle. Contreras then grabbed a piece of rope, which he used to restrain her. He then took the rope and strangled her to death. After that he stuffed her body in the trunk and drove around with it for hours, leaving it in the vehicle for most of the night.

At around 3 a.m., Contreras was trying to find somewhere to dump the body, when he was stopped by a police patrol which discovered the dead woman inside the trunk.

When he was initially questioned about the body, he told police that he knocked the woman down, but under further questioning, he confessed to police what he had done.

He confessed again last week Tuesday and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter, which Justice Lucas accepted.

In his mitigation hearing yesterday, he told the court that truly sorry for what he did, and if he could take it back, he would, and that the guilt has been a heavy burden to bear.

After considering his mitigation hearing, Justice Lucas sentenced him to 18 years, but he deducted 2 and a half years, for the time he spent on remand while awaiting trial. As a result, he will spend only 15 and a half years in jail.

The victim's daughter – who is Contreras's former wife - became outraged today when she heard the sentence, and she accused the court of being too lenient even though Contreras admitted to killing her mother.