Bayron Fajardo-Gonzalez Gets 20 Years To Life For Fatally Stabbing Girlfriend In Front Of Her Daughter

Bayron Fajardo-Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty in March to fatally stabbing his live-in girlfriend at their Riverside home in front of her 9-year-old daughter in August 2020, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on Wednesday, April 27.

Authorities said that court filings and statements by Fajardo-Gonzalez himself revealed that on August 10, 2020, the 34-year-old attacked the victim, Tania Fox, 45, after she arrived at the residence with her young daughter.

Fajardo-Gonzalez and Fox had been arguing earlier in the evening, and Fox had locked herself and her daughter in the child’s bedroom to avoid him. Fajardo-Gonzalez went outside and broke the window to the bedroom, at which point Fox and her daughter ran up to the attic to hide.

Fajardo-Gonzalez then entered the attic and stabbed Fox multiple times in the chest while her daughter was standing next to her.

“This defendant brutally terrorized and murdered the innocent victim in front of her terrified daughter,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney in a statement upon the sentencing. “Today’s outcome cannot change that. However, it does ensure that the defendant will serve a significant sentence and will be called to account for his cowardly actions.”

According to the district attorney’s office, while hiding, Fox called her cousin and said, “If anything happens to me, Bayron is guilty. Please take care of [my daughter].”

Her daughter escaped the attic and called 911, and Fox could be heard screaming in the background of the call, Tierney’s office said.

When officers from the Southampton Town Police Department arrived, they saw Fajardo-Gonzalez walking down the stairs from the attic covered in the victim’s blood, and he admitted to stabbing Fox.

Suffolk County Court Judge Anthony Senft handed down the sentence.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney John Scarglato of the Narcotics Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Melissa Grier of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau.