Man pleads guilty to killing girlfriend, infant son, to avoid the death penalty

JACKSONVILLE, Onslow County - A man accused of killing his girlfriend and infant child and hiding their bodies in suitcases appeared in Onslow County Superior Court on Tuesday to plead guilty to the killings.

Sebastian Mendez, 28, took the plea in order to avoid the death penalty that District Attorney Ernie Lee was seeking in the case. Mendez pleaded guilty to a pair of first-degree murder counts, as well as solicitation to commit murder for attempting to have a witness to the case killed.

In lieu of the death penalty, Mendez will serve the remainder of his life in prison with no opportunity for parole.

The bodies of Shuang Liu, 29, and five-month-old Archer Zhi Liu were found by detectives in suitcases in separate locations outside of Jacksonville on July 13, 2015. Both mother and child were strangled to death, according to autopsy reports.

Family members were in court for the sentencing on Tuesday and had to be moved back from the front row before Mendez was brought into court.