A New York woman who spurned a Valentine’s Day marriage proposal was killed by her jilted boyfriend, who cut into her heart with a knife in a violent rage, authorities said Wednesday.
Police officers and an emergency medical team were called to a Bronx apartment Tuesday afternoon and found the body of Betzaida Madera, 20, on the dining room floor, her throat slashed and a gaping hole in her chest.
Two knives were found in the bathroom.
Relatives of the woman told police she split up recently with Wilfredo Lopez, 25, her longtime boyfriend and the father of their 18-month-old son. They said she rejected his Feb. 14 proposal and his repeated pleas to reconcile.
Police arrested Lopez in a nearby park about an hour after Madera’s killing. They said he had blood on his hands and told officers, “Take care of my baby.”
After hours of police questioning and psychological evaluation, Lopez was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said. Lopez was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Thursday.
An autopsy report Wednesday by the city medical examiner’s office said Madera died from “stab and incise wounds to the neck and torso” and her heart, lungs and windpipe were perforated.
By strange coincidence, the apartment where Madera lived with her son, her parents and a sister was at 2033 Valentine Avenue.
