LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — Editor's Note: The video above was published on Nov. 9, 2020.
A Virginia man who pleaded guilty to killing his pregnant girlfriend more than a decade ago will serve more than 12 years in prison for second-degree murder.
Bethany Decker was 21 years old when she disappeared on Jan. 29, 2011. She was reportedly five months pregnant with her second child when she went missing.
Investigators and family searched for Decker for years but she was never found.
It was only in November 2020 when Loudoun County deputies announced plans to charge Decker's boyfriend, Ronald Roldan, with abduction. Roldan was brought back to Virginia from North Carolina where he was already serving time for attacking another woman. A month later he was charged with second-degree murder in connection to Decker's disappearance.
Roldan eventually pleaded guilty to killing Decker in November 2022.
However, family did not know what happened to Decker until roughly two weeks ago when he spoke to detectives.
Detectives say Roldan and Decker got into an argument when he pushed her and she hit her head against a windowsill in their Ashburn apartment. Prosecutors say he never called 911 or tried to save his pregnant girlfriend, instead, he reportedly used a Christmas tree trash bag to dispose of her body in a trash compactor.
Her remains were never found.
Family and friends described Roldan as abusive. His mother claimed he had threatened family in the past.
"He was controlling and angry," Decker's friend and college roommate Sara Malakouti said on the stand. "It was not a good situation. I knew that deep down, she was not happy. She didn't know how to get out."
At the sentencing Tuesday, family and friends packed the courtroom as Judge Alfred Swersky sentenced Roldan to 40 years for second-degree murder, with all suspended but 12.5 years. Several of Decker's loved ones were in the courtoom, wearing an orange ribbon, because that was her favorite color.
"It was quite tragic for us to go from missing to murdered in just a sentence, in a day," Decker's mother Kimberly Nelson said. "We are so grateful to have had each other, and also that we've been able to make a difference, to get the message out there."
Family and friends told the judge how Decker's disappearance impacted their lives for years to come. They described her as a mother-figure who took care of her brothers and sisters while their parent worked; she was smart, trustworthy and had an infectious personality.
The George Mason University student was also passionate about the environment and helped start a campus-wide recycling initiative.
"People gravitated to her," friend Mary Agnes Snyder said. "She was a beautiful person inside and out."
Her younger brother, Robert Littlejohn, said the trauma of her loss significantly affected him mentally for many years.
"I spent years not knowing how to feel emotions," Littlejohn said. "It's not just she died that matters. It's that this mangled the lives of so many."
Her grandmother Evelyn Bayles wore earrings Decker bought her when she gave her victim impact statement.
"I don't think this will be closure, because we still don't have Bethany," Bayles said, as she expressed guilt over not stopping her granddaughter from seeing Roldan. "I couldn't stop her. I couldn't save her."
Defense said Roldan, who did not provide a statement in court, accepted responsibility. Public defender Lorie O'Donnell told the judge how panic and fear overtook him the day Decker died.
Once he's released, Roldan will be under supervision for five years and must not communicate with any of Decker's family members.
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