Woman jailed for murdering aunt with meat cleaver and raping boy

Maria Palaguachi (pictured) was killed by her niece with a meat cleaver in March 2017. Photo / Facebook

A woman in the US has been sentenced to 23 years in jail for the murder of her aunt and the rape of a teenage boy.

Elizabeth Sanchez, who also goes by Digna Sanchez-Ortiz, has been found guilty of killing her aunt Maria Palaguachi with a meat cleaver in March 2017.

The murder took place in their New York home and Sanchez pleaded guilty to manslaughter and rape in June this year.

According to Queens District Attoney John Ryan, the rape charge relates to a relationship between Sanchez and a 15-year-old boy.

CNN says the boy is a relative of Sanchez and she is said to have had sex with the boy multiple times.

She was charged with second-degree rape after being charged with the murder of her aunt.

Palaguachi reportedly took Sanchez in when she had nowhere else to stay.

"This defendant brutally took the life of her close relative, someone who took her into her home when the woman did not have a place to stay," Ryan said in a statement.

"This was a brutal attack that has traumatised an entire family."

The 50-year-old aunt died from injuries to her head, back and shoulders.

Palaguachi's daughter found her body.