Woman Found Guilty In Wine Chiller Murder Of Wife In Brick

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Brick Township woman has been found guilty of beating her wife to death with a wine chiller in their home in 2020, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday.

Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus, 50, was found guilty of murder in the death of her wife, Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus, following a nearly three-week jury trial before Superior Court Judge Rochelle Gizinski, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before delivering the verdict on Thursday, Billhimer said.

Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus, 32, was found dead in an upstairs bedroom of the couple's Creek Road home on May 17, 2020, after Brick Township police were called about an unresponsive woman.

The wine chiller was found at the scene, which police officers described as "gruesome," with the bed linens soaked with blood and blood spattered on the walls, according to an Asbury Park Press report on the trial.

The Ocean County Medical Examiner ruled the injuries suffered by Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus were consistent with the use of the wine chiller, Billhimer said. Her bloody fingerprint was found on the chiller, the Asbury Park Press report said.

Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus fled to New York and abandoned her minivan there after the killing, then boarded a Greyhound bus to Houston, where she was arrested May 21, 2020, and extradited to New Jersey. She has been held in the Ocean County Jail since.

During the trial, a former co-worker of Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus testified the victim had confided that she wanted to end the marriage, the Asbury Park Press report said.

The jury also found Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus guilty of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon. She faces life in prison at sentencing, which is scheduled for Nov. 17 in Gizinski's courtroom.

Billhimer praised the investigators and prosecutors for their "combined and collective efforts investigating and solving this heinous and senseless crime."

Senior Assistant Prosecutor Meghan O’Neill and Assistant Prosecutor Kaitlyn Burke prosecuted the case. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime and High Tech Crime units, Brick Township police, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, the FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, New York City police, Houston police and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated.