LA hotel killer gets 22 years to life in prison for attacks on women

A man who killed a woman at a downtown Los Angeles residential hotel in May 2014 and assaulted another woman about two months earlier was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years to life in state prison.

Orlando Wagner, 45, was found guilty Dec. 14 of second-degree murder for the May 9, 2014, strangulation of Sheri Bickman, 57, at the Madison Hotel, along with the assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and false imprisonment of another woman at the same property in March 2014.

All three lived at the residential hotel, according to Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins.

“It appears his motive was driven by a desire to not lose his housing, which would most likely result if the police investigated any crime of assault against another resident of the location,” the prosecutor said

Andrea Bickman told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench of the effect losing her older sister has had on her life.

“Even though it has been two years since her murder, she is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about before falling asleep. I wonder if her soul is at peace,” she said. “People have said to me that I ‘just need to get over it.’ I have learned from therapy that I will never ‘get over it.’ I am, however, learning to live with the hole in my soul.”

Andrea Bickman filed a civil lawsuit in November 2014 against the owners of the hotel and Wagner.

The lawsuit alleges that her sister’s screams for help were ignored by the building’s managers and that patrons, residents and guests had previously been instructed to report violence to them and not to law enforcement. The lawsuit also alleged that there was “ample time” to prevent her death.

— Wire reports