Robert Fisher was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison Tuesday morning for the horrific rape and murder of 3-year-old Josefina Cunningham.

Judge Debra Young announced the sentence in Rensselaer County Court on Tuesday morning.

Josefina was killed in her home on Broadway in Rensselaer last year. Fisher was supposed to be caring for her.

Josefina is remembered as someone whose smile would light up a room, a girlie girl who liked to wear her pink scarf and matching pink purse.

Fisher admitted to her rape and murder. He pleaded guilty in July.  

He said almost nothing in court on Tuesday, looking down with his head bowed.

He was a friend of Josie’s mother, and he started sleeping over just days before he killed Josefina.

The official cause of death is homicidal violence during a sexual assault. 

Fisher tried to clean up afterwards, scrubbing her face with Clorox wipes so hard he burned the pigment off her face, and even put Clorox wipes inside her.

The night of her murder, her mother came home from Walmart, took some medication and went to sleep. 

He crushed up some of the meds and put them in a cup for Josie to drink.

“He drugged her. He went into her bedroom, and he raped her. He did all of this while she was alive and awake,” said Antonia Edwards, the prosecutor. “We know that not only from the autopsy results, but we know that from the defendant’s own words in his plea allocution. He did this to her while she was alive and awake, and these actions killed her. Her body went through such a traumatic response. Her body shut down because it could not sustain the trauma of the rape.”

The courtroom was packed Tuesday with first responders in honor of the little girl.

“You are a threat to society, and you’ve shown no remorse for what you did to Josie,” the judge said in her sentence. “It is clear to this court that you will never be fit to live in the community ever again.”

Hear the stern words from the district attorney, police chief and the little girl’s brother, by watching the video of Kumi Tucker’s story, which is currently in the process of being posted to this page.