Message to killer: 'Who you are will be forgotten'

PORTLAND, Ore. - The man who killed a woman and a teenage girl showed no remorse Thursday when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The families of the victims had the agonizing experience of addressing Mark Beebout, who was arrested last summer for killing 32-year-old Nikayla Powell and 15-year-old Mayra Cruz-Rodriguez. He pleaded guilty to the murders last month.

Powell was found dead in her Southeast Portland apartment days after she was murdered in July 2012. Her father told KATU News she loved the outdoors and dancing.

She volunteered at Operation Nightwatch, an organization catering to the homeless out of a church. That's where she met Beebout and invited him to be her roommate.

On Thursday, Powell's father put his anger into words that were read by the prosecutor: "You held information hostage in exchange for dropping additional counts of murder and sexual assault in accepting your plea because you were afraid of what your new roommates would do to you if they knew. I exclaimed, 'Do I hear a violin?' I'm quite confident the knowledge of your crimes are already well known where you are going."

Beebout had a criminal past. He did time in Illinois for theft. In California he was convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old. In June he met Cruz-Rodriguez, a runaway. He left her body in Portland's Washington Park.

In court her family wept, and through an interpreter they conveyed their loss.

Beebout's former girlfriend, Amy Lewis, spoke about her survival and his two victims.

"What you've done and who you hurt will always be remembered, but you most certainly won't be. Who you are will be forgotten," she said.

Beebout didn't say anything when he had his chance to speak.

He is trying to legally change his name to Yunos Mohammed.