During a trial hearing on Friday, a New York man guilty of murdering and dismembering a woman in 2018 was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison, according to officials.
Daquan Wheeler, in his 30s, was accused with the murder of Lisa Marie Velasquez, 25, in 2018, after first testifying that he did not commit the murder, but simply aided his girlfriend, Ciara Martinez, also in her 30s, in burying the corpse, according to officials.
According to court papers, a jury held Wheeler liable for murdering Velasquez by beating her at least 14 times with a hammer during a quarrel in an apartment shared by Wheeler and Martinez.
According to court filings, Wheeler’s attack was a rage-fueled reaction to Velasquez apparently calling 911 on him, and he and Martinez then dismembered the body, placing her into bags and discarding her remains in New York City parks.
“It was a horrible sequence of activities against a woman who had gone to the help of her friend, who lived with the defendant,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a news statement issued after the conviction was announced.
Clark continued that he ruthlessly hit the victim with a hammer, then strangled her with a rope.
Wheeler and Martinez were apparently in a relationship and going through a “difficult period” when she summoned Velasquez to her apartment for guidance on Aug. 23, 2018.
Velasquez never came home, and authorities discovered her remains in two black bags at Crotona Park and Barretto Point Park in the days soon after the event.
May her soul rest in peace. Hope the culprit get the most severe punishment.
