Details Emerge In Man's Confession To 1978 East Harlem Murder

HARLEM, NY — The man charged last week with committing a 1978 murder in East Harlem made an initial confession to Connecticut police this spring before taking a train to the city to turn himself in, according to court documents.

Leandro Tessionniere, 64, walked into a police station on May 13 in New Haven, Conn., where he lived, and told authorities that he wanted to turn himself in for a murder he had committed in Manhattan "a long time ago," according to Wednesday's indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

Tessionniere provided details about the Dec. 11, 1978 killing of 20-year-old Esteban "Chino" Vega on Lexington Avenue near East 109th Street on Dec. 11, 1978.

Officers there were unable to confirm the details of Tessionniere's claims, however, and they let him leave the station that night without arresting him, the New York Daily News reported.

Two days later, Tessionniere boarded a Metro-North train in New Haven headed to Grand Central Terminal, where he approached a conductor and said he was coming to New York to confess to a murder.

The conductor called MTA police, and Tessionniere told them that "he had killed a guy named 'Chino' in a Cuchifritos [restaurant] on Lexington Avenue, between 109th Street and 110th Street, a long time ago," the indictment alleges.

Tessionniere was released while police investigated. He was interviewed again in New Haven on Aug. 4, and initially claimed during the four-hour interrogation that he hadn't killed anyone, saying he had only made the confession because he wanted to get out of Connecticut.

Police showed Tessionniere body camera footage of his initial confession in May, after which point Tessionniere confessed to the murder, according to prosecutors. Within eight minutes, he once again recanted the confession, but had also provided details about his time in New York, including his drug dealing near 42nd Street, prosecutors said.

Tessionniere was arrested without incident Oct. 7 at his home in a New Haven apartment complex, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which conducted the operation along with the NYPD and New Haven police.

Prosecutors said at a hearing Wednesday that Vega had appeared at Tessionniere's Queens home and tried to rob him after initially claiming he wanted to buy marijuana, the Daily News reported.

After finding Vega in East Harlem, Tessionniere shot him twice, in the head and torso, according to police and prosecutors.

Tessionniere pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and a judge ordered him held without bail, the Daily News reported. He is next due in court Dec. 21.