TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: The families of Victoria "Vicki" Sims and Oluwatoyin Salau have been left enraged after their killer Aaron Glee escaped the death penalty.
In July, the 52-year-old Glee reached an agreement with prosecutors whereby he agreed to plead guilty to the kidnapping and deaths of Sims and Salau in exchange for the abolition of the death sentence.
On Friday, September 22, Leon Circuit Judge Frank Allman sentenced the killer to two consecutive life sentences for two counts of first-degree murder.
He was also given a life sentence for one count of kidnapping, 15 years in prison for one count of sexual battery, and an additional five years for felony battery, according to Law & Crime.
When did Aaron Glee kill Oluwatoyin Salau and Victoria Sims?
Glee was sentenced nearly three years after Salau and Sims were found dead in his disheveled home.
Sims, a community volunteer who had worked for various state agencies before retiring, vanished just days before the disappearance of Salau, a student at Tallahassee Community College who took part in Black Lives Matter protests.
After an initial investigation, investigators traced Sims’ cellphone, which led them to Glee's cluttered home. At the residence, officers found Sims inside a bedroom under a bloody sheet while Salau's body was found under a pile of leaves in the woods behind his house.
Glee fled before officers arrived at his door. He was quickly apprehended at a Greyhound bus station in Orlando and brought back to Tallahassee to face charges.
At the time of his arrest, Glee complained of breathing issues, and he was taken to a hospital, where he made his first confession.
“While at the hospital, Glee had made voluntary admissions to officers guarding him that he had murdered two women in Tallahassee,” law enforcement said, adding, “He would also place a telephone call to his mother and make these same admissions.”
The suspect later told investigators that he first met Salau at a bus stop on June 6, 2022, when she told him she had recently been sexually assaulted.
He then told Salau that she could clean up at his home and get some rest. Surveillance footage also revealed that he and Salau were picked up by Sims in her car.
After Salau showered, Glee admitted to raping and keeping her captive for roughly three to five days. However, his admission was shaky as he was extremely drunk at that time.
Glee eventually admitted that he killed Salau to cover up his crime as he didn’t want to return to prison. The defendant would later make his way into Sims’ apartment – then he stole her car, kidnapped her, and killed her, police said.
Oluwatoyin Salau and Victoria Sims' families react to Glee’s sentence
On Friday, the courtroom was filled with Salau and Sims’ loved ones who spoke out against Glee and paid them moving tributes in tearful testimony.
"An angel lived and walked among us," said June Campos, one of Sims' daughters, according to Tallahassee Democrat.
“On June 13, 2020, the angel's earthly light was extinguished and the heavens called her home . . . She was an advocate for all humans and all human rights, even for monsters such as you,” she continued.
Brenda Campos, Sims' other daughter, recalled the compassion their mother displayed to them as children. She claimed that her mother sacrificed everything so she could be present for her children and support them in any way possible.
Rebecca Figueroa, a friend of Salau, said this murder broke them, leaving them as shells of who they were. She was the last person Salau spoke to before she was kidnapped by Glee.
Figueroa claimed that she is constantly tormented by regret for not picking Salau up from the library where Glee took her.
"Part of us is still enraged toward this disgusting excuse for a human being," she said. "We're not the same, just glued pieces of something Aaron Glee has torn apart."
Figueroa asked the judge to reconsider Glee's fate and give him capital punishment. "We want the death penalty," Figueroa said, adding, "We want the light to fade from his eyes the way it faded from Toyin's. Consecutive life sentences are a far more precious gift than he deserves."
