The 224-year prison term followed a jury verdict in the death of UCCS voice professor Haleh Abghari.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — An El Paso County judge sentenced Ceasar Lorenzo Wilson to 224 years in prison after a jury convicted him of killing UCCS professor Haleh Abghari during a break-in at her Colorado Springs home.
The May 6 sentence marked the final major courtroom step in a case that began with officers finding Abghari dead in August 2024 and ended with a long prison term tied to murder, robbery and theft convictions. Prosecutors said Wilson, 54, entered the house to steal, met Abghari inside and used a knife during a struggle. The court also treated Wilson as a habitual criminal, a legal finding based on earlier felony convictions that increased the punishment. For the university, the ruling closed the criminal trial but not the loss of a professor who had shaped its voice program for years.
The hearing came after Wilson had already drawn attention for his conduct in court. Reports from the sentencing said he had missed an earlier sentencing date and had refused to come to court at points during the case. During the May hearing, he was described as making brief, defiant remarks while the court moved through the record. Prosecutors also cited a jail call in which Wilson allegedly made a disturbing comment to his mother about Abghari and the trial. The judge still moved ahead with the sentence. The final number, 224 years, reflected the murder conviction, other crimes tied to the attack and the habitual criminal finding. In practical terms, it means Wilson is expected to remain in prison for life.
Jurors convicted Wilson on Feb. 26 after hearing evidence about what happened on the night of Aug. 7, 2024. Prosecutors said Wilson used an open garage to enter Abghari’s home in the 6400 block of Caddy Point, an east-side neighborhood near Powers Boulevard and North Carefree Circle. The state’s theory was that Wilson first meant to steal property. That changed, prosecutors said, when he encountered Abghari in her bathroom while she was getting ready for bed. A struggle broke out. Abghari was stabbed several times, and trial accounts said five wounds were found, including one to the chest that proved fatal. Prosecutors said Wilson then fled with her vehicle, credit card, phone and other belongings.
The prosecution built the case around physical evidence and Wilson’s conduct after the killing. Officers found a bloody palm print on the bathroom counter. DNA evidence was recovered from under Abghari’s fingernails. Those findings became central because Wilson’s defense suggested he had not been the killer. Prosecutors told jurors the evidence showed direct contact during a fight, not a bystander’s presence. They also pointed to the use of Abghari’s card at gas stations and stores in the days after her death. Senior Deputy District Attorney Brien Cecil told the jury that Wilson’s use of the card and car showed he knew what he was doing. In another part of the trial, Cecil described surveillance footage showing Wilson checking outside and looking around as signs of guilt.
Abghari’s body was found after police responded shortly after 7 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2024. She was 54. Her death was later ruled a homicide. Early campus and police reports identified her as a teaching professor in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She had joined the university in 2015 and led the voice program. Colleagues said she was central to the music program, and campus leaders said she also served on Faculty Assembly and mentored students. Abghari’s professional life extended beyond the classroom. She was known as a singer, actor and voice-over artist who performed internationally and divided her time between Colorado and California.
Wilson was not immediately charged in Abghari’s killing. Authorities said he was arrested about two weeks later, on Aug. 23, 2024, after stealing another vehicle and trying to flee law enforcement in Lincoln County. Prosecutors said he injured a person while trying to get away. At that point, the homicide investigation had not publicly named him as the suspect. Police later issued a second-degree murder warrant, and reports said investigators found him already jailed elsewhere under a different name or on unrelated charges. The lag between the killing and the charge became part of the case’s timeline. Investigators had to connect the forensic evidence, stolen property and later arrests before the homicide case could reach El Paso County court.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on all charges presented at trial. Those counts included second-degree murder, aggravated robbery, second-degree motor vehicle theft, identity theft and theft, along with violent crime sentence enhancers. The state also showed Wilson’s criminal history to support habitual criminal sentencing. Local reporting said jurors or the court were told of 14 prior felony convictions in North Carolina between 1991 and 1994. That finding changed the stakes at sentencing, allowing the court to impose a term far beyond the sentence for a single conviction. The DA’s office said the sentence was issued to the Department of Corrections, where Wilson will serve the prison term.
District Attorney Michael J. Allen framed the sentence as an answer to violence inside a home. “The violence perpetrated by the defendant against Haleh Abghari, an innocent woman alone in her own home, deserved the harsh sentence issued today in court,” Allen said after sentencing. He said Abghari’s death hurt her family, the UCCS community and the 4th Judicial District. The statement also thanked Colorado Springs police and UCCS for their role in carrying the case from the investigation through conviction. The line from the DA’s office was clear: the case had moved from a crime scene, to evidence collection, to a jury verdict, to a sentence that left no realistic path for Wilson to return to the community.
The killing added grief to a campus already marked by recent violence. Earlier in 2024, UCCS student Samuel Knopp and Celie Rain Montgomery were shot and killed in a dorm room. Abghari’s death months later was not tied to that case, but student media reported that it was another UCCS-related death investigated as a homicide. In campus messages, officials focused on Abghari’s work and the people she taught. Friends remembered her not only as a professor, but as a daughter, sister, performer and advocate. Her death also became part of Colorado Springs’ homicide count for 2024, which police said had already reached 26 when she was identified.
With the 224-year sentence entered, the criminal case has moved beyond trial court punishment and into the period in which post-trial motions or appeals may be filed. No new sentencing hearing is scheduled. As of May 28, 2026, Wilson remains convicted in Abghari’s killing, and the next formal step would come only if the case is taken up on appeal.
Author note: Last updated May 28, 2026.