Married Man Who Murdered Pregnant Girlfriend Sentenced, DA Says

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN -- A married man who fatally stabbed his pregnant girlfriend 22 times was sentenced to 20 years in prison, prosecutors announced.

Alex Jeffrey, 34, was sentenced in Brooklyn Criminal Court Tuesday for killing 35-year-old Merceda Young, a mother of two who was 12 weeks pregnant with his child, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

Jeffrey lunged at Young inside his Jeep, parked on the corner of Kent and Division avenues in Williamsburg, at about 7 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2013, prosecutors said.

The Bed-Stuy man killed his pregnant girlfriend, drove down Division Avenue to the dead end next to the East River and dumped Young's lifeless body on the concrete, prosecutors said.

After Jeffrey threw his knife, jacket and some of her belongings into the river, he whipped out her phone and researched how to remove the bloodstains from his car, according to prosecutors.

A passerby found Young the next day, prosecutors said.

Jeffrey, a married man who had been dating Young for three years, became investigators' primary suspect after Young's 14-year-old son told them his mom's boyfriend drove a Jeep, said prosecutors.

Jeffrey was arrested near his Bed-Stuy home on Oct. 30 and quickly admitted to stabbing Young, throwing a blanket over her body then getting the car washed, said prosecutors.

Investigators found bloody paper towels in his Jeep, where one of Jeffrey's coworkers found a plastic bag wrapped in duct tape that held Young's wallet, cellphone and credit cards, prosecutors said.

A Brooklyn Criminal Court judge sentenced Jeffrey to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in July, prosecutors said.

Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn District Attorney's office