FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Brooklyn Man Indicted for Murdering Girlfriend
Defendant Allegedly Told Police He Violently Strangled and Killed Girlfriend
While Infant Son Slept in Crib Nearby
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brooklyn man has been arraigned on an indictment in which he is charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly killed his 18-year-old girlfriend while the couple’s five-month-old son slept in a crib nearby.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This was a depraved and despicable act that left an innocent young woman dead, an infant boy to grow up without his mother, and an entire family traumatized with grief. We will now seek to bring this defendant to justice for his alleged actions.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Dylan Diaz, 26, of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Warin on an indictment in which he is charged with second-degree murder. The defendant is being held without bail and was ordered to return to court on July 13, 2022.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on the evening of May 5, 2022, the defendant and the victim, Damaris Maravilla, 18, allegedly had an argument over the care of their five-month-old son. The next morning, as the couple lay in bed, and their son slept nearby in a crib, the defendant allegedly placed his arm around Maravilla’s neck and strangled her until she lost consciousness. The defendant is alleged to have then violently sexually assaulted the unconscious woman before breaking her neck and killing her.
According to the investigation, the defendant then left the address in Bensonhurst and went to a store. He eventually returned and called a relative who works for the New York City Police Department. Around 10 a.m., officers from the 62nd Precinct responded and found Maravilla’s body. The defendant was then taken to the 62nd Precinct where he allegedly admitted to killing Maravilla. The couple had been in a relationship for two years.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Kori Medow, 1st Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Hannah Laufer, also of the 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.