FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 25, 2016
Bronx Man Pleads Guilty to Fatally Choking Brooklyn Woman, Disposing of Her Body
Cut off Victim’s Fingertips, Placed Body in Laundry Bag and Dumped it in Canarsie Pier
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 35-year-old Bronx man has pleaded guilty to murder and grand larceny for choking a Brooklyn woman to death. The defendant then cut off the victim’s fingertips, threw the body off of the Canarsie Pier in Brooklyn and used the victim’s banking cards to withdraw cash and make purchases in stores and fast food restaurants. He faces a prison sentence of 18 years to life as part of the plea.
District Attorney Thompson said, “By sadistically killing, cutting up and dumping the victim’s body in the water, this defendant showed absolutely no mercy towards the victim. With his guilty plea, we will now show no mercy towards him and seek a long prison sentence for this ruthless and cold-blooded killer.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Charles Wright, 35, of 1627 Fulton Avenue in the Bronx. He pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder and two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Michael Gary, who indicated he will sentence the defendant to 18 years to life in prison. The defendant will be sentenced on February 10, 2016.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on July 25, 2014, the defendant got into an argument with Shaniqua Davis, 32, inside an apartment at 775 Blake Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn. He strangled the victim, used a knife to cut off her fingertips, tied her hands and feet, stuffed the body inside a large brown laundry bag, put her in the back of her car, drove her to the Canarsie Pier and threw her in the water. The body was found on a tidal island in Jamaica Bay inside the laundry bag on August 4, 2014.
The evidence showed that after killing the victim, the defendant used her ATM card to withdraw $141.50 from a grocery store across the street from her home. He also used her credit card to make purchases at a gas station, a Family Dollar store and Wendy’s and Burger King restaurants.
The defendant’s girlfriend Tamanika Evens, 39, who helped him dispose of the body, pleaded guilty to first-degree hindering prosecution and fourth-degree grand larceny on December 3, 2015, and is expected to be sentenced to two to six years in prison.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Sara Kurtzberg, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub, Chief.
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