FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Jurors found Cid Torrez guilty Friday of second-degree murder in the killing of his estranged wife, who was last seen in March 2012.
The jury deliberated for two days before deciding Torrez's fate.
The former couple's eldest child testified during the trial that she heard a howling sound at her home on the morning that authorities believe Vilet Torrez was killed.
The teen told jurors that she then heard her father say, "No, you wake up."
Prosecutors painted Cid Torrez during the trial as a jealous husband, who was upset that his soon-to-be ex-wife had moved on with another man.
Vilet Torrez was last seen on surveillance video early in the morning on March 31, 2012, after arriving back to her Miramar home after a night out with her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend, Zoe Rodriguez, took the stand during the trial, claiming that Cid Torrez told him to end his relationship with the victim.
"It got heated and I said, 'Listen, let me explain something to you. I am not 115 pounds. You're not going to be able to bully me like you bullied her,'" Rodriguez said.
Vilet Torrez's boyfriend said the defendant warned him that he "did not know what kind of person he could be and what he could do to me and to her -- the actions that can become of it."
Detectives said two cadaver dogs detected the odor of human remains in the trunk and backseat of Cid Torrez's car and at the couple's home.
Police said Cid Torrez's co-worker told them the defendant believed his wife had cheated on him and used a program to monitor her cellphone.
The defense has long said that the evidence just shows Vilet Torrez disappeared and not that she's dead, let alone at the hands of her estranged husband.
Defense attorney Richard Della Fera turned to other high-profile cases as proof that there is a chance that Vilet Torrez is still alive.
"Perhaps some of you are familiar with Jacey Dugard, found alive after 18 years in captivity," he said.
Cid Torrez did not testify during the trial.
He faces up to life in prison.