FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 26, 2018
Brownsville Man Convicted of Murder in Death of Staten Island Mom
Found Naked in East Williamsburg Hotel
Victim was Discovered with Bruises to Neck and Head
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brownsville man has been convicted of second-degree murder in the 2015 death of a 34-year-old mother of four from Staten Island who was found dead in a hotel in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant befriended a vulnerable woman and then heartlessly and violently ended her life, leaving her friends and family, including her four children, heartbroken. Such violence will not be tolerated in Brooklyn. Hopefully, today’s verdict brings some comfort to those suffering from this tremendous loss.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Joseph Danclair, 39, of Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was convicted today of second-degree murder following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Riviezzo. The defendant faces up to 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on November 14, 2018.
The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, on July 23, 2015, at approximately 4:30 p.m., the victim, Chrissy Bevelaqua, 34, was discovered naked with bruises to her neck and head in a hotel room at the Bushwick Hotel located at 171 Bushwick Avenue in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The victim was found on a bed by hotel staff, who notified the police. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
During the investigation, the police recovered the defendant’s DNA and fingerprints from the hotel room. Danclair was also captured on surveillance video entering the hotel with the victim and later leaving alone. Police later learned that Danclair was picked up at the hotel by a livery driver and was dropped off in Brownsville.
The defendant was arrested on September 17, 2015, near Second Avenue in Kips Bay in Manhattan. In a video statement recorded by the police, the defendant admitted to being in the hotel room.
The District Attorney thanked Michel Dilone, of the DA’s Victim Services Unit, for his assistance in this case.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Olatokunbo Olaniyan, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Payne, of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough, Homicide Bureau Chief.
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