A Bronx man accused of fatally stabbing a teen girl he suspected was sleeping with his 25-year-old girlfriend told cops the woman helped him do in the victim.
Jose Mendez, 40, told cops that Rosanna Castro grabbed 17-year-old Luzbenet Ramirez as he held her by the neck and stabbed the teen 30 times in a jealous rage.
Mendez, who suspected Castro and Ramirez of sleeping together, thought killing the teen ‘would solve their relationship issues,’ a source said.
‘She told me to get two garbage bags and we could put her on the roof and no one would find her,’ Mendez said, according to prosecutors. ‘She said she wanted to start again working on our relationship.’
Instead, Mendez wrapped Ramirez’s body in plastic and stowed it in the closet of Castro’s Southern Blvd. home in the Woodstock section, sources said.
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Castro has not been charged with any crime. Mendez had just got out of jail a day before the killing after doing 35 days for assaulting
Making his first court appearance Thursday, Mendez wore his right arm in a cast and appeared to have bruising around one eye.
It was not clear how or when the injuries occurred. A judge ordered him held without bond.
The victim’s family and friends said she’ll be missed.
‘She was a good kid and, unfortunately, her surroundings got the best of her,’ said a family friend who identified himself only as Hector.
Neighbors said Luzbenet met Mendez’s girlfriend on the street shortly after the teen’s father died from a sudden diabetes-related illness in May.
‘She was going through a rough time with the passing of her father,’ Hector said.
The teen’s brother, who gave his name as Benny, said the loss was a bitter blow to the family.
‘My dad just died five months ago and now it’s just me and my mom,’ the 14-year-old said.
