Massachusetts teen found guilty of beheading classmate

A Massachusetts teenager was convicted Tuesday of killing and beheading his classmate because of jealousy over a girl.

Mathew Borges, 18,  of Lawrence, Mass., a Boston suburb, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2016 death of Lee Manuel Villoria-Paulino, 16, according to USA Today. Borges was 15 at the time of the incident but was tried as an adult. 

The teen will be sentenced July 9 and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years. 

“Nothing can bring Lee Paulino back to his family, who obviously love and miss him very much,” Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in a statement to the newspaper. “It is my hope that this verdict gives them some comfort and peace.”

Prosecutors said that Borges was jealous that Villoria-Paulino hung out with a girl at their school. They accused Borges of stabbing his classmate then cutting off his head and hands. The victim’s body was found by a woman who was walking her dog along the Merrimack River. 

Borges could be seen on surveillance footage heading toward the river on the day Villoria-Paulino went missing, The Boston Globe reported.