Hinrichsen Given 2 Life Sentences For 2012 Double Homicide

Matthew G. Hinrichsen of Ewing was sentenced Tuesday for killing a Northeast Nebraska couple and setting their house on fire in rural Antelope County in December 2012.

In district court on Tuesday morning in Neligh, Hinrichsen, 34, was sentenced to two-consecutive life sentences.

Hinrichsen was found guilty in October 2013 of four felony counts, including the first-degree murders of newlyweds Alex and Victoria Lee Vargas. Hinrichsen had dated Victoria before the couple married. The bodies of the couple were found in their burned mobile home near Ewing.

According to the Attorney General's office, autopsies indicated Alex died from three gunshot wounds and Victoria died from blunt force trauma.

Hinrichsen was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of possession of a firearm while committing a felony and one count of use of a firearm to commit a felony in connection with the deaths of Lee and Vargas, who were married in October 2012.