A Connecticut man who used a wet towel to suffocate his wife as their 6-year-old daughter slept, then fled with the child and abandoned her at Port Authority Bus Terminal several years ago has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Elmer Gomez Ruano, 35, had pleaded guilty in January to murdering his 24-year-old wife, Donicia Bautista-Cano, in their Stamford apartment in November 2016. 

The couple had been having marital problems, but had reconciled and had just started living together again two days before the killing. Police have said the killing appeared to stem from a fight about an ex-boyfriend.

Gomez Ruano told the judge at his sentencing hearing Tuesday that he was sorry for killing his wife, according to The Stamford Advocate.

"I would like to apologize. I am very remorseful for what I have done," he said, according to The Advocate. "At no time did I want things to go the way they did."

Gomez Ruano had faced 60 years in prison if convicted at trial. The couple's daughter was placed in foster care after the killing.