Camden murderer given two life sentences

Miguel Figueroa was given two life sentences this morning for raping and killing 13-year-old Shaline Seguinot of North Camden in 1995.

He will serve a minimum of 55 years behind bars.

Figueroa, 37, had previously been convicted in the case but won a new trial on appeal.

He served as his own attorney in the second trial, which ended earlier this year when jurors took less than two hours to convict him of four counts of murder and sexual assault.

This morning he was sentenced by Superior Court Judge William Cook in Camden, as Shaline's mother looked on.

"Justice was served today for the second time," said Lourdes Vazquez.

Shaline Seguinot vanished on Aug. 4, 1995, after going for a five-minute ride on a borrowed bicycle. Her nude body was found three days later in heavy brush behind the Pyne Poynt Family School in North Camden.

She had been raped, her throat had been slashed, and she had been stabbed 10 times, prosecutors said.

Figueroa wasn't arrested until 2000, when he was living in Florida under an assumed name. He was convicted the first time in 2002, and he won a new trial in 2005.