Woman sentenced to 20 years for her role in Detroit firefighter's 2015 murder

Dave Madrigal beaten to death in December 2015

DETROIT – A woman who was involved in the beating of a Detroit firefighter to death was sentenced Friday morning. 

Nicole O'Neill, 33, was the third person sentenced for Dave Madrigal's murder. She pleaded guilty to second degree murder earlier this year and will be sentenced before Judge Paul Cusick at 9 a.m. Friday.

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The 59-year-old Detroit firefighters was killed in his home on Vaughn Street in December 2015. Police said an upstairs bedroom at Madrigal's home had been ransacked and a safe was missing.

Timmy Soto, 32, Nicole O'Neill, 33, and 19-year-old Christian Rasnick all originally were charged with felony murder, armed robbery, arson and larceny. After Madrigal's murder and the home's ransacking, Soto and Rasnick stole Madrigal's SUV, drove it to an alley and set it on fire, prosecutors said.

The sentencing

Madrigal's children, Christina and David Jr., spoke at the sentencing with harsh words for O'Neill.

Christina Madrigal talked about the things that her father would miss.

“My father was a selfless man that she selfishly removed from this world,” Christina said. “My father won’t be able to walk me down the aisle, he won’t meet his grandchildren and he’ll never enjoy the retirement that he worked 26 years dedicating his life to the city of Detroit.”

David Madrigal Jr. found his father dead in the home. 

“I need you to think about the fact that he bought your kid gifts and he had intended on giving them to you for you kid. You didn’t give him that chance. Neither did your comrades over there in prison,” David said. “So with that, I want you to think about that every morning when you wake up and every night when you go to sleep and if the trouble ever gets too much to bear, please do me a favor and the rest of us tax payers and kill yourself.” 

O’Neill had nothing to say in court.

"Our community lost a hero because of these vicious acts," the judge said.

O'Neill was sentenced to 20 to 50 years in prison.

Defendant's involvement in homicide

Judge Kenneth King ruled during a preliminary hearing in May that O'Neill and Rasnick would not stand trial on felony murder charges in Madrigal's death. He also dismissed a felony burglary charge against O'Neill and an arson charge against Rasnick. King expressed his condolences, but said there was no evidence that O'Neill and Rasnick participated in the homicide.

"Supposedly, these people went there with no gun, no weapon, unarmed, and Mr. Soto picks up a weight and hits Mr. Madrigal with it," he said. "Even though they had guilty knowledge of what was to take place, and they were present, what we're looking at is the state of the mind of the defendants when the actions took place."

King told the family he couldn't determine Rasnick knew someone would be killed during the alleged larceny, and said the evidence made it harder to attach O'Neill to the crimes.

"Evidence was very, very light in what she did to help" with alleged murder, he told the family.

Despite King's decision to dismiss charges, Judge Michael Callahan ruled in September to reinstate felony murder and armed robbery counts against Rasnick and O'Neill.

Rasnick pleaded guilty to second degree murder in October, and the remaining charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison on Dec. 15, 2016. Soto, who pleaded guilty to felony murder and felony firearm, was sentenced the day before Rasnick to 40 years in prison

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