'Unforgivable': Final defendant gets life sentence in starvation death of Oakmont girl

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'Unforgivable': Final defendant gets life sentence in starvation death of Oakmont girl

Paula Reed Ward | Tuesday, July 15, 2025 2:04 p.m.

Courtesy of Allegheny County Police Department

Alexis Herrera

Throughout her prosecution for killing a 3-year-old girl, Alexis Herrera blamed her actions — starving, assaulting and torturing the child — on her sister, Laura Ramriez.

It was Ramriez who hated Bella Seachrist, a child born from her husband’s affair.

It was Ramriez who first started abusing the child in January 2020 and then egged Herrera on — encouraging her to hurt the little girl and take pictures of the abuse.

But during the last week of Bella’s life, Ramriez and her husband, Jose Salazar-Ortiz Jr., went out of town, leaving Bella and their other children home alone in Oakmont with Herrera.

The abuse continued.

“What is always unforgivable to me is that Alexis Herrera was alone with Bella and those children for the last week — when she had a chance to stand up and save this child’s life,” said Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer DiGiovanni. “And she didn’t do it.”