A man who paid his cousin to kill his ex-girlfriend by staging a Bronx robbery gone wrong was sentenced to life in prison without parole yesterday. Even a lawyer for Carlos Cruz said, "It's an exceptionally troubling case."
In 2008, Cruz and Chelsea Frazier, 18, had driven from Massachusetts and were visiting his relatives in the Bronx. While pulled over to change their toddler son's diaper, Cruz claimed that a man demanded his gold chain and when he tried to grab the gun, Frazier was killed. However, the shooter was allegedly his cousin—and police believe Cruz ran after his cousin, "Hey, you forgot to shoot me!"
The Post says that "Cruz heartlessly held his 18-year-old girlfriend by the hair to make sure that none of the eight bullets allegedly fired by his cousin missed" while the Daily News reports Cruz planned the murder to avoid paying Frazier, who dumped him, child support. Frazier's mother told Cruz before the sentencing, "I hope that you rot in hell and die a slow, painful death," while Bronx Supreme Court Justice Barbara Newman said, "Your crime shows that you are an extremely vicious and dangerous person. You have demonstrated that you cannot be in a free society."
Cruz's cousin will be on trial for the murder next week.
