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A Roosevelt man pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder and child endangerment charges for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death while their 2-year-old son was in the same room.
Jose William Funes-Zabala, 44, entered guilty pleas to second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child, charges related to brutal killing of Brenda Guadoloupe Alfaro Alcantara a year ago. He is expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on Dec. 18. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly recommended a sentence of 25 years to life.
“Blinded by rage, this defendant brutally and repeatedly stabbed his ex-girlfriend more than 30 times in her home during a visit with his son, leaving the 2-year-old to watch the gruesome attack and the life drain from his mother’s eyes,” Donnelly said.
“The child was later found, soaked in Brenda Guadoloupe Alfaro Alcantara’s blood, after Funes-Zabala fled the scene and heartlessly left his son behind with his mother’s corpse,” she continued. “This was a horrific act of violence that stole a woman’s life and the innocence of a young child. Two lives destroyed because of this defendant’s viciousness and his bruised ego.”
Donnelly said that on Oct. 4 last year an order of protection against Funes-Zabala, issued on behalf of 29-year-old Alfaro Alcantara, had expired. The following day, just before 6 p.m., Funes-Zabala went to Alfaro Alcantara’s basement apartment on Botsford Street in Hempstead to visit their son.
An argument began after he learned that Alfaro Alcantara had started dating. Funes-Zabala then attacked her, stabbing her approximately 35 times in her bedroom in the presence of the child, Donnelly said.
An hour later, Funes-Zabala left the apartment with what appeared to be blood on his face and fled, leaving the child, who was unharmed, behind, prosecutors said. Relatives discovered the victim and child after family members were unable to contact Alfaro Alcantara.
Authorities arrested Funes-Zabala the next day.
Top photo: mugshot, via NCPD, and Nassau County Supreme Court, via Google Maps.
