TAVARES, FLA. — Ian Anselmo, who strangled his pregnant stepmother in the cemetery she was later buried in, was sentenced to life in prison Friday.
Anselmo’s lawyer, Richard Hornsby, argued that while there were aggravators, there were also “extreme” mitigating circumstances that called for a lower sentence. He suggested 15 to 20 years.
The extreme mitigator was being the influence of his dominating father, John, he said. That, combined with the emotional turmoil of Sue-Ellen leaving her husband of 13 years and taking her biological children with her, triggered an emotional firestorm. “He snapped,” he said.
The 26-year-old pleaded his own case, insisting that he was “mentally ill.” He also claimed that at least one of the children would have died if they stayed with their mother “one more day.”
He claimed when the state returned the children after her death, they were dirty and bruised and the youngest, who has Down’s Syndrome, had been ignored in a play pen.
Cindy Miller placed a framed picture of Sue-Ellen on the prosecutor’s desk facing Circuit Judge Brian Welke and talked about gradually being shut out of her daughter’s life by her controlling, husband.
She also talked about how smart Ian is (he has a Mensa IQ), and how she loved him as a child.
He was trying to please his father, she said.
She ended by saying she hoped Ian would turn his life over to Jesus and His forgiveness. She said she forgave him, so she could be set free from hatred.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “justice means there are consequences that must be paid here on earth. No outcome can bring about a happy ending to this story.”
Next to speak out was Dejah Thoris Waite, Sue Ellen’s biological daughter. She reminisced about the happy times with her mother, and said she was shocked to learn that Ian, who she described as her “best friend” growing up, had killed her after begging to meet with her at Greenwood Cemetery in March 2019 near the burial site of a beloved family priest. The cemetery was within walking distance of the Anselmo home.
She also talked about the lies she heard about her mother during the trial, about how she was mentally ill and not a fit mother.
John had her body exhumed and cremated after Dejah and friends of the popular hairdresser put flowers on her grave. Her stepsister and a young half brother attacked her one day at the cemetery. The sister said during the trial she was trying to gouge out Dejah’s eyes.
Sue-Ellen moved in with Waite when she told her that she had been physically and sexually abused by John when she lived at the house.
Assistant State Attorney Nick Camuccio argued that members of the jury, who had heard the testimony of mental health experts, rejected the idea that the crime was anything but second-degree murder.
Second-degree murder is not premeditated murder or accidental but is defined as “any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind ….”
Anselmo was also charged with the death of the unborn child.