A 22-year-old Queens man faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder in the 2009 strangulation death of a fashion school student in her Astoria apartment.
Jose Martinez, then 15, was on a bicycle July 12, 2009, when he ran into 23-year-old Carmen Saldana and started talking to her, according to court documents. He followed her home and once inside the 30th Avenue apartment she shared with her mother, the two started to argue.
Martinez then wrapped his hands around Saldana's neck and choked her to death, court documents say.
Saldana was a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Martinez faces 14 years to life in prison as a juvenile offender when he is sentenced next month.
"This was a brutal murder – made all the more horrible because the defendant was just 15 at the time," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. "A young woman’s life was senselessly cut short and the defendant, now an adult, will face a lengthy term behind bars when sentenced next month."
