BATON ROUGE - A man who avoided arrest in his wife's murder for years by fleeing the country was sentenced to life in prison nearly 12 years after the killing.

Oscar Lozada, who was found guilty of second-degree murder back in February, was formally sentenced Monday. The charge carries a mandatory life sentence.

Lozada's wife, Sylviane, disappeared from the couple's Baton Rouge home in 2011, and Lozada fled to Venezuela with the couple's young daughter soon afterward. He avoided extradition for years until U.S. law enforcement tracked him to Mexico in 2018. 

Mexican authorities handed Lozada over to East Baton Rouge sheriff's deputies at the border, and he was taken back to Louisiana to face charges in his wife's murder. 

Though Sylviane's body was never found, detectives believe Lozada possibly dismembered his wife at their home and then dumped the remains, which were allegedly placed in multiple plastic containers. 

Their daughter, now a teenager, was safely removed from Lozada's custody at the time of his arrest and is now back with her mother's family.