Man Pleads Guilty To Fatally Stabbing Woman In Front Of Child: DA

RIVERSIDE, NY — A Riverside man pleaded guilty Tuesday to stabbing his girlfriend to death in front of her 9-year-old daughter, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Bayron Fajardo-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to an indictment in which he was charged with second degree-murder after he fatally stabbed his girlfriend in 2020, Tierney said.

According to court filings and statements by Fajardo-Gonzalez, 34, who admitted to the stabbing, on August 10, 2020, he attacked Tania Fox, 45, after she had arrived back to the couple’s residence with her daughter, Tierney said.

Fox and Fajardo-Gonzalez, who was not the child’s father, had been arguing earlier in the evening and once home, Fox and her daughter locked themselves in the child’s bedroom to avoid him, Tierney said.

When he was unable to gain entry, Fajardo-Gonzalez went outside and broke a window to the child’s bedroom; Fox and her daughter than ran out of the room and up the stairs to a small attic, where they tried to hide, Tierney said.

Then, Tierney said, Fox quietly called her cousin and told her, "If anything happens to me, Bayron is guilty. Please take care of [my daughter].”

Fajardo-Gonzalez followed after them, initially barging into a tenant’s room demanding to know where Fox was, Tierney said. Fajardo-Gonzalez then entered the attic area and stabbed Fox multiple times in the chest while her daughter was standing next to her, Tierney said.

The child escaped the attic and called 911, as did the tenant; while the child was on the phone calling 911, Fox could be heard screaming in the background, Tierney said.

Southampton Town Police arrived and saw Fajardo-Gonzalez walking down the stairs from the attic covered in Fox's blood; he admitted he stabbed Fox, Tierney said.

“This plea will not bring the victim back, nor will it erase the brutal acts her young daughter witnessed,” said Tierney. “However, this defendant will now serve an extensive prison sentence and her family and loved ones can hopefully rest a little easier knowing that the defendant has been brought to justice.”

Fajardo-Gonzalez faces 20 years to life in prison and is due back in court for sentencing before Suffolk County Court Judge Anthony Senft on April 27.