Madison Shea Pilkington had her father’s freckles across the bridge of her nose.

The 25-year-old woman would crinkle that nose when she laughed, and sometimes that laugh would turn into a snort, drawing more laughter from those around her.

She graduated high school with a 4.0 and could draw anything. She loved the beach, peanut butter on vanilla wafers, pizza, and Doritos. She loved babies, and babies loved her.

Pilkington had a bright future, said those who knew her best.

But that future was cut short on Jan. 29, 2022, when her boyfriend, 33-year-old Cortez Lenarde Warren, beat her death in her Hoover apartment and left her under a pile of blankets with a bag over her head.

Warren pleaded guilty in June to Pilkington’s slaying, with a 35-year-old prison sentence as part of the agreement.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Streety on Wednesday imposed that sentence after Pilkington’s family members were allowed to give statements in open court about Pilkington and the impact her murder has had on the family.

“I just simply do not understand how someone can look at someone and just take a life,’’ Streety said to Warren after sentencing him. “It just makes no sense to me. I can’t even fathom why it was necessary.”

“You have ruined countless lives including your own and your own family by your actions,’’ the judge said.

“There’s nothing we can do here today, no matter what the sentence is, to make it right,’’ Streety said. “There’s no way possible this family will ever have justice. You caused harm to yourself, to this family and to your own family.”

Pilkington’s mother and aunt had harsh words for Warren, who appeared to remain emotionless after the tongue-lashing he received in court.

“You’ve grinned at me in this room, nodded,’’ said the victim’s mother, Shea Pilkington-Wiley. “Knowing that you’re only going to spend 35 years makes me physically ill. Madison won’t get up from her grave in 35 years.”

Pilkington-Wiley said the family accepted the plea deal because they didn’t trust the justice system.

“In a just society, he would suffer the same fate as Madison, blow for blow, stomp for stomp,’’ she said.

Warren was represented by the Jefferson County Public Defender Office. Chief Deputy District Attorney Joe Roberts and Deputy District Attorney Neal Zarzour prosecuted the case.

Both Pilkington and Warren worked at Baumhower’s Victory Grille in Vestavia Hills and had been dating less than a year.

Authorities said Warren was Pilkington’s manager at the restaurant and killed her because he was angry that she was telling people they were dating, which was prohibited because he was her supervisor.

“This was a domestic violence murder. The defendant and Madison were in a relationship, and he was abusing her,’’ Roberts said after Wednesday’s sentencing.

“Friends and co-workers had seen the signs of abuse. Management at her job had even brought her in to question her about the injuries,’’ Roberts said. “Unfortunately, Madison did not tell anyone that she was dating the defendant and that he was the one who was abusing her.”

“On the night of the murder, the defendant got angry that Madison had shared with some co-workers that they were seeing each other and the defendant knew that he would be discovered for the domestic abuser that he was and that is why he attacked and killed Madison in a rage,’’ Roberts said.’’

“The Pilkington family and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office had multiple women reach out and report to us that the defendant had verbally and physically abused them as well,’’ the prosecutor said.

“The defendant had a pattern of manipulative, controlling and violent behavior. Tragically, with Madison, he senselessly took her life,’’ Roberts said. “We are thankful the case is over, and the defendant has been sentenced to 35 years and will be off the streets for a long time and be punished for this horrific crime.”

Pilkington’s family members last communicated with her via text three days prior to her being found dead and became increasingly concerned when she did not show up for work on Thursday and Friday.

A family member who had a key to the couple’s apartment went inside just after 4 a.m. Saturday and saw a pile of blankets on the couch. When he moved them, court records state, he found Pilkington bruised and unresponsive with a white grocery sack over her head.

He immediately left the apartment and called 911.

Investigators quickly identified Warren as a suspect and immediately began searching for him and a white Nissan Altima.

In the early afternoon, he was spotted in the vehicle. He traveled through Irondale and Birmingham, and then onto Interstate 65 northbound with officers from multiple agencies behind him, including Hoover, Irondale and Fultondale.

As Warren pulled on the shoulder of the interstate to stop, the officers following him were trying to stop as well.

At that point, a passing motorist, Julie Johnson, 62, of New Orleans, struck a Fultondale officer’s SUV from behind. The officer and Johnson were taken to UAB Hospital.

Warren was charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and unlawful possession of marijuana.

He had previous arrests for domestic violence involving another woman, but those charges ultimately were dismissed.

In her emotional remarks Wednesday, Pilkington-Wiley said, “She was my first-born, my only daughter, who I raised to be my best friend. My person, my secret-keeper, a part of me.”

She said it was impossible to sum up her daughter in a brief statement, but said she always made her proud.

“First and foremost, she loved Jesus no matter where she was in her life, whether she was being good or going down a bit of a curvy road,’’ Pilkington-Wiley said. “She was brilliant.”

She had one class left to complete her college studies at UAB, and the college graduated her anyway in the months following her death.

Pilkington, her mother said, stood up for everything and everyone she believed in.

“Look at me,’’ she said to Warren. “That’s how she ended up in this mess.”

Pilkington-Wiley said her daughter was still working with fractured ribs that were later shown in the autopsy to be healing.

She said she is haunted by her daughter’s last moments.

“My mind plays out scenarios of what I think happened. Did she cry out for God? For me?’’ Pilkington-Wiley said. “She was unrecognizable. He kicked the bedroom in to get to her. He beat her all over that apartment.”

The family has started Madison Saves, a nonprofit to help domestic violence victims.

“This is all for Madison,’’ Pilkington-Wiley said. “Her story is changing lives, but I would give it all up to have her back.”

Dana Armstrong, Pilkington’s aunt, said her niece was the daughter she never had.

“We have a hole in our family that will never be filled,’’ she said.

To Warren in court, Armstrong said, “Why didn’t you leave? Why didn’t you just walk out the damn door? That’s all you had to do. Madison was in love you.”

“All you had to do was walk out that (expletive) door and never look back,” she said. “You are dirt beneath my feet.”

Armstrong said Warren sat in a car in the parking lot outside Pilkington’s apartment while police investigated the death.

“He watched my baby sister lay on the ground screaming for her dead daughter,’’ she said. “Did you enjoy the show? Did it make you feel like a man?”

“I hope it haunts you until the day you die hearing my sister’s screams,’’ Armstrong said. “I hope prison is Hell on Earth for you every day. I hope the people there treat you like you treated her.”

“I hope you lay in fear every night that someone’s going to do something to you,’’ she said, “and maybe nature will take its course.”