OAKLAND — A man and woman convicted of stabbing a 21-year-old woman to death at an Oakland park, then setting her body on fire with gasoline, were both sentenced to 25 years to life at an emotional court hearing Friday.

Karla Ramirez-Segoviano 

Curtys Taylor and Laura Rodgers, both 27, heard from friends and family of their victim, 21-year-old Karla Ramirez-Segoviano, and made apology statements in court before they were sentenced. Segoviano’s 2016 murder was motivated by Taylor’s jealousy, prosecutors say, after he learned Ramirez-Segoviano kissed Rodgers, his girlfriend.

“Why did you hate her? She did not deserve a death like that … Why did you not hear Karla’s cries to not do it? Why were they so cruel to her?” Ramirez-Segoviano’s mother, Soledad Segoviano, wrote in a letter to the court. She later added, “I will never understand why there are people so cruel …They did not just kill Karla, they killed an entire family.”

Police say Taylor used Rodgers’ phone to lure Ramirez-Segoviano to the Arroyo Viejo Recreation Center in Oakland. They waited two hours for her to show up, then stabbed her more than 30 times before using gasoline to set her body on fire. Taylor was accused of acquiring the knife as well as gas and matches. Prosecutors say he spent months obsessing about the kiss before hatching the murder plot.

Rodgers shocked everyone by pleading guilty with no deal in place last year, while Taylor was convicted last May following a jury trial.

“She has always been remorseful,” Rodger’s attorney, Darryl Stallworth, said of his client after the sentencing. “She cried from the very moment she was interviewed…It’s obviously not nearly as painful as it is for Karla’s family and what they lost, but she is sincerely as sad and as in as much pain as you can imagine.”

Soledad Segoviano’s letter said she wasn’t ready to forgive Rodgers.

“As for me, the closest I can ever get to be with my daughter is visiting her at her grave site,” she wrote. “There are no words that can fully express the amount of pain I feel and nothing will ever repair the damage that has been done by Ms. Rodgers.”

Segoviano-Ramirez had been enrolled in the Alameda County Sheriff’s explorer program. Her supervisor, Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Priscilla Silva, said in court Friday she was “far more advanced” than others in the program, which is for 14-20-year olds hoping for a career in law enforcement.

“It was very rare to find a high school student that held a full time job, possessed a driver’s license, got her own car, succeeded in school, and dedicated herself to her family, but that’s what Karla was … Karla was selfless, self-sacrificing, loyal to her friends and family, humble and confident,” Silva said.