FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Brooklyn Man Indicted for Murder and Dismemberment of Wife
Admitted to Killing Victim in their Apartment, Cutting Body with a Saw;
Remains have yet to be Recovered
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 42-year-old man from Prospect-Lefferts Gardens has been arraigned on an indictment charging him with the murder and dismemberment of his wife, whose remains have yet to be discovered. The defendant admitted to the crime, saying that he dismembered the body with a saw and removed the remains to trash cans.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “The allegations against this defendant are truly disturbing and we are determined to hold him responsible for this barbaric murder.”
The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Phillip Martin, 42, of Linden Boulevard in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic on one count of second-degree murder, one count of second-degree manslaughter and one count of concealment of a human corpse. He was ordered held without bail and to return to court on May 4, 2017. The defendant faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, relatives of the victim, 43-year-old Diana Rodriguez, became worried in the second week of February 2017, after they had not heard from her for almost a month. They went to her and the defendant’s apartment to look for her. The defendant told them that she had left him about a month earlier, but gave differing accounts regarding her whereabouts. The relatives called 911 and reported the victim missing.
On February 16, 2017 the defendant was arrested and subsequently made statements to detectives, according to the investigation. He said that he killed his wife around his birthday on January 14 and then kept the body in the living room for about a week. He then dismembered the remains with a saw and removed the body parts with a laundry cart and garbage bags, dumping them in trash cans on the street, according to his statement.
The case was investigated by New York City Police Department Detective Erin Pignatelli of the 70th Precinct Detective Squad and Detective Joseph Perry of Brooklyn South Homicide Squad.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Joanna Lettieri, of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kaminsky, Bureau Chief.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.