While gardening with her grandmother, Brittany Battaglia once salvaged a bagful of wild onions growing as weeds in the backyard garden plot, with the hope that she could nurture them and allow them to grow.
Such was Battaglia’s respect for life, her grandmother Carol Agurkis remembered on Friday, that the 33-year-old woman was reluctant to even kill a weed.
Battaglia herself, though, died in a violent attack. She was found by police officers in a duffel bag, nearly decapitated, on June 5, 2023, in her boyfriend’s Logan Square apartment.
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Cook County Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan sentenced her boyfriend, Genesis Silva, to 50 years in prison in Battaglia’s slaying following several hours of testimony at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
“This case was a case of domestic violence, which has been and continues to be a scourge upon our society,” Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Carlson argued, asking the judge to hand down a maximal punishment.
During the hearing, Battaglia’s family members described her as an old soul and a true friend, willing to take a week off and drive from Los Angeles to Chicago with her cousin who was moving in what was a major life transition. She enjoyed painting, both on canvas and people’s faces, they said, and favored the sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving, a dish that now serves as a reminder of her absence on the holiday.
Battaglia wanted to get married and have children one day, her family said. Instead, her cousin tied her photograph around her own wedding bouquet when she got married without Battaglia standing beside her as a bridesmaid.
“I just want to ask why, Genesis?” her mother, Sue Battaglia, said, choking through tears on the stand. “She loved you so much and talked about you all the time. And you had to kill her?”
A jury in March convicted Silva of first-degree murder in Battaglia’s killing, who was missing for several days as her family members grew increasingly worried and reached out to Silva for knowledge of her whereabouts.
Silva’s public defenders, though, argued that Silva, suffering from a mental health crisis, tried to conceal the homicide when he found Battaglia dead in his apartment, thinking that no one would believe he didn’t do it.
During the sentencing hearing, Silva apologized to the family for concealing her death, but maintained his innocence in her killing.
“My fear and short-sightedness led me to make terrible choices,” Silva said. “Instead of taking accountability like a man, I panicked.”
Ryan Carlsen, his public defender, asked Brosnahan to order the minimum sentence of 20 years, arguing that Silva had a difficult childhood during which he suffered from bouts of homelessness. Carlsen read statements from friends and family members of Silva who called for a reexamination of the case and described him as a friend with an even temper known for deescalating troublesome situations.
“Mr. Silva has led a complicated and difficult life from his early childhood to where he stands today,” Carlsen said.
Brosnahan, though, ordered a sentence close to the maximum, which is 60 years. His sentence will be served at 100%.
The last time anyone saw Battaglia was on June 2, 2023, prosecutors have said. She was at a Home Depot with her roommate when she got a series of calls and texts from Silva that caused her to go see him, her roommate testified at trial.
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When Battaglia never came home later that night, the roommate alerted her family and called the police.
For three days, family members grew increasingly worried, until police officers searched Silva’s Logan Square apartment and made the gruesome discovery. They found the duffel bag, along with cleaning supplies and multiple knives, prosecutors said.
“I am so mad at you,” Battaglia’s birth mother, Michelle Deaton, said tearfully, turning to face Silva.
She told Silva that Battaglia loved him, and thought she could change him throughout the course of their turbulent relationship.
Sue Battaglia said that she and her husband adopted Battaglia, taking her home from the hospital when she was 4 days old, though her birth mother, Deaton, was part of her life as well.
She cried through her statement while her husband stood next to her on the witness stand.
“She was the shining star of our family,” Battaglia said.