Man Sentenced To 25 To Life For Murder Of Ex-Girlfriend, DA Says

BROOKLYN, NY — The man who killed his girlfriend inside Brooklyn Bridge Park after stalking her for weeks will spend 25 years to life behind bars for the crime, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced.

Lamont Wright, 55, was sentenced on Friday for fatally shooting Michelle Marks, 23, in the head as she was leaving work at a pizzeria inside the park, prosecutors said.

"The senseless murder of a promising young woman at the hands of this defendant was devastating and cruel, coming on the heels of an unacceptable campaign to terrorize her," Gonzalez said in a statement. "I hope that today’s sentence brings a small measure of solace to her grieving loved-ones."

On June 6, 2016, Marks left her job at Fornino's pizzeria, near Pier 6, at about 9:30 p.m. and walked to the bus back home to Crown Heights when Wright showed up, prosecutors said.

She was on the phone with her then-boyfriend and told him, "Babe, he's here, call the police, he's got a gun," when the line went dead, authorities said. Wright shot Marks in the head then dumped her body in a lot near the bus stop, where she was found by police.

Wright harassed his ex-girlfriend for weeks before the murder, including confronting her twice in person, and she planned to file a restraining order against him, according to prosecutors and DNAinfo.

Days before the murder of June 2, Marks was walking in the park with her co-worker when she spotted Wright, prosecutors said. While she was on a cigarette break later that night, he jumped out of the bushes and yelled at her for "kissing this white boy."

On June 5, Wright waited for Marks inside her Crown Heights apartment building, followed her to her door then pushed her to the ground, prosecutors said. Marks' boyfriend and mother confronted Wright who ran out of the building before police got there.

Investigators found Facebook messages starting on May 15, 2016 that showed Marks tried to end her relationship with Wright, but he refused and threatened her, authorities said.

"I promise you, you're not done with me, because either I'm gonna wind up in jail or I'm gonna wind up in a grave," Wright said in an audio message left to Marks.

Wright was arrested the day after the murder for the stalking, but he claimed he was innocent of the murder and was talking with a girl, "Emily from Ohio," at the time, prosecutors said.

While records show he talked on Facebook to "Emily" before and after the murder, his cellphone was in the park at the time and not his East Flatbush apartment, Gonzalez said.

He was convicted of murder, criminal possession of a weapon and stalking by a jury earlier this month for the killing.

Image: Brooklyn District Attorney's Office