Goey Charles convicted of murdering pregnant girlfriend
A 33-year-old Long Island, New York, man could spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his 29-year-old pregnant girlfriend three months before she was due to give birth, strangling her and then dumping her body on top of her three years ago stood on the side of the road and drove away.
A Queens County jury found Goey Charles guilty Tuesday of second-degree murder in the October 2020 killing of Vanessa Pierre, authorities said.
“We have achieved justice for Vanessa [Pierre]”Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement following the verdict. “The verdict doesn’t bring her back, but it does hold her murderer accountable. We will ask the court to send the defendant to prison for a very long time because he showed brutality and callousness when he murdered the lifeless body of his girlfriend, the woman who would become the mother of his child left behind.”
Surveillance footage shows Charles pulling Vanessa Pierre’s body from her car and leaving it on the side of the road (Queens County District Attorney’s Office)
According to a Press release The Queens County District Attorney’s Office convicted Charles based primarily on video surveillance footage that showed him moving her body.
The prosecutor said the footage showed the defendant driving a white Dodge Challenger and pulling over to the side of the Horace Harding Expressway at approximately 2:50 a.m. on October 23, 2020. Charles is seen getting out of the driver’s seat of the car that was registered in Pierre’s name.
Charles then sits in the back seat of the vehicle, where a light in the car allowed the footage to show a then-pregnant Pierre “sitting and moving.” accordingly The video footage reviewed by the prosecutor’s office.
“Shortly after Charles gets out and closes the door behind him, [Pierre] appears motionless and stretched along the entire length of the rear seat,” the press release states. “At approximately 4:38 a.m., the defendant is said to be seen exiting the vehicle and then dragging the pregnant woman’s body out of the car and leaving it on the sidewalk. Then he gets back in the car and drives away.”
Around 6 a.m., an MTA bus driver saw Pierre’s body lying on the ground, along with a pair of gray sweatpants around her neck, authorities said.
Authorities confirmed that Charles was the father of Pierre’s unborn child Prosecutors office said.
Charles is scheduled to appear in Queens Supreme Court on November 29th. He faces 25 years to life in prison in a state correctional facility.
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