TOPEKA ? A 29-year-old Topeka man was sentenced today to 13 years nine months in prison in connection with the death of a paramedic who was a Kansas University student.

Victor Anzua-Torres was found guilty of reckless second-degree murder of Ryan Ostendorf, 28, who was killed the night of Dec. 5, 2005, in a head-on collision with a vehicle driven by Anzua-Torres on U.S. Highway 40 near Shawnee Heights Road.

Ostendorf was driving to work at American Medical Response when the accident occurred.

Anzua-Torres had a blood alcohol level of 0.26 percent, more than three times the legal limit of .08, according to authorities.

“My family has an enormous hole where Ryan’s life ought to be,” Ryan’s mother Jo Ann Ostendorf, of Gothenburg, Neb., said.

She said Ryan was a biology student at KU and planned on being a cardiologist.

She and other family members, friends and co-workers gave statements in court at times angrily denouncing Anzua-Torres.

Meagan Kennedy, Ryan’s fiance and also a paramedic, said Ryan was her “soul mate and love of my life.”

“You left all of us with holes in our hearts that can never be filled,” she said.

Anzua-Torres frequently looked down during the statements, sometimes dabbing tears from his eyes.

He asked the family to forgive him and that he felt remorse for Ryan’s death.

“I never wanted this to happen,” he said.

Shawnee County District Court Judge Nancy Parrish sentenced Anzua-Torres to the maximum for the reckless murder charge 11 years and six months.

The remaining time on his sentence was due to additional charges related to the incident.

She ordered the sentences to run consecutively.

“You have really exhibited a flagrant disregard of our laws,” she told him.

Anzua-Torres is an illegal immigrant who has been deported from the United States once before.

He also had a previous charge of drunken driving and was ordered to get treatment, but he ignored the order, authorities said.

After the hearing, Jo Ann Ostendorf said she appreciated Parrish giving him the maximum sentence on the murder charge, but added “for my son’s life it is not enough.”