He was a Miami nuclear engineer planning to get married. His killer is now going to prison

At 33, Alexander Restrepo was a handsome volleyball player and snowboarder. He was engaged to be married. And he was brilliant: Restrepo earned two degrees from the University of Florida and worked as a nuclear engineer at South Miami-Dade’s Turkey Point power plant.

Restrepo’s promising life, however, was cut short. He was fatally stabbed in the back at a Halloween party in West Kendall.

Two years later, his killer, shackled and in a jail jumpsuit, stood before Restrepo’s family in a Miami-Dade courtroom. Alejandro Tapia pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder and agreed to accept a prison term of 25 years in prison, plus 10 years of probation.

Restrepo’s mother, Amparo Restrepo, minced no words during the sentencing hearing. She called him a “monster” and a “coward.”

“You. Look at me,” Amparo Restrepo said, pointing angrily at Tapia, who instead looked to the side. “Have the decency to look at me!”

But Amparo Restrepo’s anger turned to tears as she spoke about her son: his intelligence as a child, their yearly vacations, his devotion to family. Her health has deteriorated. She’s contemplated suicide. She dwells over the seven stab wounds her son felt in his back.

“My pillow is soaked with tears every single night. ... I don’t listen to music. I don’t dance anymore. I don’t exercise,” Amparo Restrepo cried. “I am not motivated. I am just existing, hoping to die soon.”

The sentencing hearing came more than two years after Miami-Dade police arrested four men for their roles in the death of Alexander Restrepo, who was fatally stabbed as he left a Halloween party in Southwest Miami-Dade on Oct. 21., 2017.

Also arrested: Sebastian David Zorrilla, Andres Felipe Feo and Edwin Rios.

They were initially charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon, but the charges were later downgraded because while they took part in the fight, they did not stab Restrepo.

Rios took a plea deal and agreed to probation, while the others were acquitted of aggravated battery.

Tapia, 25, was also wanted by police in Ontario, Canada, where he is alleged to have stabbed a man in May 2016.

The argument with Restrepo and his friends started in front of the party house, 15747 SW 147th St., and spilled out onto the road. Restrepo was found mortally wounded a few doors away on a front lawn.

Restrepo’s brother, Christopher, was also attacked and had stab wounds to his right hand and head in the melee.

Relatives and supporters packed the courtroom Wednesday. They recalled that Alexander Restrepo, a graduate of Coral Reef High, was a devoted family member who acted as a father figure for his younger nephews and nieces.

Tapia said nothing during Wednesday’s hearing. He clasped his hands under his belly, held his head erect and glanced only occasionally at Restrepo’s mother.

“I will never ever forgive you,” Amparo Restrepo said. “I hope you will suffer for what you have done.”

Tapia did not apologize. He said nothing before he was led back into the bowels of the courthouse, to be returned to jail.

This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 4:34 PM.