Anthony Darrell Heath, his hands manacled to a chain around his waist, stands before Lehigh County Judge Kelly M. Banach as she sentences him to life in prison without parole, plus eight to 16 years in prison for murdering Angela Steigerwalt of Tamaqua in his Allentown apartment.

He strangled her in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, 2014, then burned her body in Jim Thorpe before fleeing to North Carolina, where he was arrested the next day."You do not deserve to walk among us or see the light of day as a free man," Banach says.Heath, 25, surrounded by sheriffs deputies, remains impassive. After a five-day trial in which he represented himself, the jury on June 23 found him guilty of criminal homicide and related charges.Banach, who said her patience was worn thin by Heath's "bizarre" statements and relentless lies, notes that he's been involved in two assaults and plotted to escape while in prison."You are a smudge on the community," she tells him.Before she imposes his sentences, Banach asks Steigerwalt's family to speak.Steigerwalt's uncle, Donald Serfass, goes first. He describes Heath as a "subhuman creature, a dangerous predator who shouldn't have been walking the streets."He speaks of emptiness and raw grief."I wasn't allowed to see Angela or kiss her goodbye. Why? Because of carnage done by a savage animal, a monster who preys on the unsuspecting. Anthony Heath, how dare you! How dare you," he says. "How could you do such a thing to a woman who only knew love in her heart?"Heath looks at him, his face expressionless."You are an evil poison. You're a psychopath who needs confinement," Serfass tells him. "You were able to fool Angela because she was a trusting soul who only saw the good in people. But you can't fool any other person sitting in this courtroom. You certainly didn't fool a jury of your peers," he says.Steigerwalt's mother, Jean Serfass, her voice breaking and a victim advocate's reassuring hand on her back, tells Heath that the day of her daughter's death was the "darkest day of my life. My heart felt like it was ripped out of my body and torn in a million pieces," she says. "I love her now, and forever. I miss our talks, laughing with her, and most of all, I miss hugging her and seeing her beautiful smile. You, Anthony Heath, robbed me of that."Serfass tells Banach about her daughter's love of pigs. Steigerwalt collected figurines by the dozen."She has an extensive pig collection," she says. "She loved pigs from the time she was little."On Banach's bench sits a ceramic pink pig, with wings, placed there long before the trial. It sits across from a small statue of the scales of justice.Serfass noticed the pig on her first day in the courtroom. It was a good omen, she says.Steigerwalt's sister, Sherri Steigerwalt, barely contains her furious grief.The day after her younger sister's death was her own son's 16th birthday, but instead of a joyous occasion, "it was the most shocking, horrible day of my life," she says.She describes how images of Angela's struggle for breath as Heath strangled her with an electrical cord, of her body after he doused it with lighter fluid and ignited it, haunt her dreams, of her collapse into screams and tears."The tears never stopped, and continue to this day," she says. "They may never stop."You are a heartless, soulless monster," Sherri Steigerwalt says. "I cannot find it in my heart to forgive you."Banach speaks of the impact the murder had on Gary, Steigerwalt's husband of 12 years, on whom Heath tried to pin the crime. He did not speak at the sentencing.She speaks of the anguish Gary felt as he sat through an "obscene" trial, and as he read a letter Heath sent him from jail."Were you out of your mind?" Banach asks Heath. "You are despicable. You are a pathological liar."Heath, too, speaks. Banach tells him she won't allow an apology because it would put Steigerwalt's family in an "awkward position."He begins his statement with fits-and-starts rambling, as he did throughout his trial, and continues to avoid accepting any blame for Steigerwalt's death."I pray that the truth will one day prevail and the healing process will begin for everybody affected by this incident," he tells Banach.Later, she calls his statement "absolute blasphemy. It is bizarre.""I am not a vicious monster. I do have feelings, I do make mistakes. I cannot bring Angie back," Heath says.Heath testified that he had met Steigerwalt through a mutual friend about a year before her death and that they had had an ongoing relationship.Assistant District Attorney Steven M. Luksa refers to a pre-sentence investigation report on Heath, noting a probation officer's observations that Heath is manipulative, setting up lies well before he tells them.Luksa described Heath as "narcissistic and self-absorbed."He refers to the five versions of Steigerwalt's death in his apartment that night Heath gave at the trial. The versions ranged from disavowing any knowledge of how Steigerwalt died to an accident during consensual sexual relations to a "demon" taking over his body in a fit of anger after Steigerwalt refused to take him to a child custody hearing."He gets caught up in his own lies," Luksa says.He quotes Heath's statement in the report about strangling Steigerwalt with an electrical cord."I tried to put (the cord) down, but I had a freaking charley horse," Heath told the probation officer.Heath also told the officer, "I have a history of not telling the truth."Heath, Luksa says, is a "pathological liar who can't even convince himself."After sentencing, Heath rejects an offer of a public defender, saying he will continue to represent himself through the appeals process."You can wish upon a star, file whatever you want," Banach tells Heath. "You are done."Within the hour, Heath was on his way to Graterford state prison, Montgomery County.Outside the courtroom, Luksa explains to Steigerwalt's family how they will be notified of Heath's placements in state prison and that he will certainly spend his days crafting appeals.The court, Luksa says, "will be mired in paperwork 20 years from now."