Margate man sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing neighbor

A Margate man who used a wooden cutting board to bludgeon his neighbor to death was sentenced Friday to 25 years in state prison.

Evan Rosenthal, 51, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder in the April 2022 killing of Laurie Bellesheim, a 69-year-old grandmother and breast cancer survivor who was Rosenthal's neighbor in the Viewpointe condominium in Margate.

Rosenthal left Bellesheim face down in a pool of blood, his head, face and ears badly injured from the beating he inflicted on him, police said.

Bellesheim, who lived with her beloved chihuahua, Taco, left behind her devastated family, including a son and granddaughter. She has lived in South Florida for over 20 years.

Rosenthal's lawyers said he suffered from severe mental illness throughout his life, stopped taking his medications and drank alcohol before killing Bellesheim. Rosenthal said he had no memory of the killing, according to court documents.

Rosenthal's sentence requires that his 25-year prison term be followed by life probation on mental health grounds, with no alcohol use, and that he be placed in a residential treatment program after his imprisonment.

According to the Broward State Attorney's Office, the judge in the case denied the defense's motion for a lesser sentence.

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