ADEL, Iowa (AP) — A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for hacking to death his girlfriend, her teenage daughter and their landlord with a machete in central Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that Carlos Hernandez-Ventura was sentenced Friday, a month after being found guilty on three counts of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Hernandez-Ventura used a machete on Oct. 29 to kill 34-year-old Lourdes Flor De Leake, 14-year-old Melany Barraza and 78-year-old Juan Jimenez Tejada at the home in Perry.

At trial, Hernandez-Ventura had testified that Leake’s estranged husband ordered the deaths, but investigators say they found no evidence he was involved.