A Riverside man pleaded guilty Monday in the stabbing death of his live-in girlfriend.
Bayron Fajardo-Gonzalez, 34, was charged with second-degree murder for killing Tania Fox, 45, on August 10, 2020. He faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced by Suffolk County Court Judge Anthony Senft on April 27.
According to a release from the office of Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney, Fajardo-Gonzalez stabbed Fox multiple times in front of her 9-year-old daughter after the victim and child tried to hide from him in the attic of their home.
The DA’s office said Fajardo-Gonzalez and Fox had argued earlier in the evening. When Fox and her daughter returned to their Ludlum Avenue home, they locked themselves in the child’s room to avoid Fajardo-Gonzalez.
Unable to enter the room, Fajardo-Gonzalez went outside and broke a window to the room to get in, forcing the mother and her child to flee to the attic.
As the two hid, Fox called her cousin, telling her that if anything happened to her, her boyfriend was responsible and asking her to care for her daughter.
The DA said Fajardo-Gonzalez first barged into a tenant’s room, demanding to know where Fox was, and then made his way to the attic and attacked her, stabbing her repeatedly in the chest. The child escaped and called 911.
Southampton Town Police arrived at the home to find Fajardo-Gonzalez coming down the stairs covered in the victim’s blood and admitting that he had stabbed Fox.
“This plea will not bring the victim back, nor will it erase the brutal acts her young daughter witnessed,” Tierney said. “However, this defendant will now serve an extensive prison sentence and her family and loved ones can hopefully rest a little easier knowing that the defendant has been brought to justice.”
Staff Writer on Mar 29, 2022