A man was held without bail Sunday after he was allegedly seen wheeling the body of his dead wife down a Staten Island road in broad daylight, cops said.
A man was held without bail Sunday after he was allegedly seen wheeling the body of his dead wife down a Staten Island road in broad daylight, officials said.
A neighbor called an acquaintance who is an NYPD detective when he spotted Anthony Lopez, 31, pushing the woman’s body on a dolly on Post Lane near Riverview Terrace in Mariners Harbor at 7:10 a.m. Friday, police said.
The detective, who called for backup, recognized Lopez because he had arrested him in the past, The New York Daily News reported.
Cops said they discovered Lopez’s 26-year-old wife’s badly beaten corpse wrapped in blankets on the rusty metal cart that he allegedly dumped on a neighbor’s lawn, according to CBS.
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Authorities later identified her as Obiamaka Aduba. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
Obiamaka Aduba (Facebook)
Lopez was found Saturday after police said they received a tip that he was in East Harlem. He had reportedly shaved his head and tried to flee, but was apprehended after a brief foot chase on 113th Street and First Avenue.
He was charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse, cops said.
He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Sunday before Staten Island Supreme Court Judge William Garnett, who ordered Lopez held without bail on the murder charge.
Garnett set a separate $1,000 bail on an open misdemeanor compliant of criminal mischief, the Staten Island District Attorney’s office said.
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Lopez had been arrested 52 previous times, according to reports. He was most recently arrested on April 30 for fare evasion in Brooklyn, cops said.
He was described by neighbors as a known drug user with a temper who on many occasions was allegedly violent with his wife.
Sources told the News that he beat her badly enough in the past to break bones and had her work as a prostitute. Her mom had tried to help her, but "every time her mother would buy her a new phone, he would take it and sell it," a police source told The News.
"She deserved so much more than what her life turned out to be like—it’s sad that this is how her life ended," a friend identified only as Tiffany R. told SILive.com. “(Lopez) has done enough harm in the past and he needs to be put away. He should get what he deserves."
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