It's been more than seven years since Gina Virgilio doused the couch her boyfriend was sleeping on with gasoline and set it on fire — a crime that placed her at the defense table in an Anchorage courtroom Friday as sentencing in the case began.
Just before Virgilio’s murder and arson trial in the death of Michael Gonzalez was about to start, the state Department of Law announced she had taken a plea agreement.
“It was announced prior to jury selection that Virgilio would accept an agreement with the State where she would plead guilty to murder in the first degree with sentencing to be decided by the judge,” state officials wrote in a news release.
In the early morning hours of June 8, 2012, the fire inside the apartment building at 201 McCarrey St. forced the evacuation of 18 other units, according to a statement from police at the time. Some of the individuals required medical attention for smoke inhalation.
Gonzalez's body was discovered in the apartment he shared with Virgilio the day after his 24th birthday.