FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Through tears and with the help of a Spanish interpreter, Isabel Tabares addressed a Broward County courtroom at a sentencing hearing for her daughter’s killer.
“The day this woman took my daughter’s life, she took my life with her because she was my all,” Tabares said.
Yvonne Serrano, 56, was convicted in June of second-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Daniela Tabares back in 2019.
On Monday, a judge sentenced her to life in prison with a mandatory minimum of 25 years.
Police said Serrano shot and killed Tabares outside her Coral Springs home.
Tabares had offered to drive Serrano home following a night out drinking with their gym buddies. Tabares’ body was found shot dead, halfway out of her car, which was parked in Serrano’s driveway.
“She was familia,” a friend said. “That’s how we referred to each other at the gym and she was the best of us.”
In court, family, friends, and fellow gym members made emotional statements.
“For nearly five years, we have been grieving,” another friend said.
Serrano’s loved ones also spoke on her behalf.
“We respectfully ask the court for leniency,” Serrano’s daughter said.
However, Serrano herself declined to make any statement.
Isabel Tabares said, “She’s never had anything to say. If you look at her face, this woman is exactly what I’ve described — insensible, without a heart, without respect for human life.”
“She just seems like an empty person,” a friend concluded.
Serrano has 30 days to appeal the sentence if she chooses to.
“Thank God, justice was served for my daughter,” Isabel Tabares told Local 10 News.