Woman who took Baby Sophia, killed mom gets prison for earlier kidnapping

A Sedgwick County judge on Tuesday ordered a Texas woman to spend 17 years in prison for trying to hold a pregnant woman and her two young daughters hostage three months before she killed a Wichita mother and abducted her newborn.

Prosecutors say Yesenia Sesmas, 36, tried to kidnap Adriana Portillo and Portillo’s 3-year-old and 10-year-old on July 25, 2016, after she invited them to her south Wichita home to give them clothing and a TV. When Portillo arrived, Sesmas took them into the basement, demanded $10,000 and told Portillo she had to tie up her daughters with duct tape. Portillo, who escaped with her girls, was eight months pregnant at the time.

Portillo has previously said she thinks she was Sesmas’ first intended victim.

Sesmas, who apologized in court Tuesday, will serve the 17-year sentence concurrently — or at the same time as — the life sentence she’s already serving for Abarca’s murder, District Judge Terry Pullman said. She pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted kidnapping in September.

This story was originally published October 30, 2018 at 11:16 AM.