Man Sentenced For Murdering Ex-Girlfriend In Inwood: DA

INWOOD, NY — A man is facing life in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend in front of her Inwood building on New Year's Eve, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced.

Jonnathan Pena-Castillo, 27, was sentenced to 21-years-to-life in prison Tuesday for the 2012 murder of Edith Rojas. Pena-Castillo had dated Rojas, who was 19 when she was killed, for one year and the two had split up months before the murder, prosecutors said.

On Dec. 31, 2012, Pena-Castillo followed Rojas and her 15-year-old brother home from an Inwood laundromat, prosecutors said. On the walk home, Pena-Castillo harassed Rojas and her brother, prompting the woman to call the police, prosecutors said.

Pena-Castillo took out a knife and lunged at the woman, stabbing her nine times, outside of her apartment building, prosecutors said. Rojas had handed her cellphone to her brother just before the stabbing, prosecutors said.

Rojas was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center where the succumbed to her injuries, prosecutors said. She suffered multiple stab wounds to her lungs, aorta and liver, prosecutors said.

Pena-Castillo was found in Fort Tryon Park suffering two self-inflicted stab wounds and was arrested, prosecutors said.

"This case serves as a painful reminder that domestic violence does not just happen in the home; it can happen just as easily in the middle of the street in broad daylight," District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., said in a statement. "While many New Yorkers were preparing to ring in the new year, Edith Rojas fell victim to a horrific attack as her ex-boyfriend stalked, ambushed, and stabbed her to death."

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