Defendant Allegedly Killed Girlfriend, Assaulted Another Woman; Deceased Victim Abandoned, Her Decomposed Body Found A Month Later
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been indicted on Murder, Manslaughter, Kidnapping and additional charges for killing his girlfriend after holding her, and the mother of his child, and his toddler son hostage for 48 hours.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant beat his current girlfriend, and the mother of his child, for two days with his three-year-old son present. The mother and child escaped, but the defendant’s girlfriend was left to die in the apartment and her extensively decomposed body was not found until a month later. We will seek justice for the deceased victim who was so callously abandoned, and for the victims who survived this ordeal.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Anthony Portis, 31, of 240 West 167 Street, was arraigned on first and second-degree Murder, first and second-degree Manslaughter, three counts of first-degree Kidnapping, two counts of second-degree Kidnapping, first-degree Burglary, two counts of second-degree Burglary, third-degree Burglary, second-degree Assault and Endangering the Welfare of a Child before Honorable George A. Grasso, Supervising Judge for Bronx Criminal Court. Remand was continued and the defendant is due back in court on November 18, 2020. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top charge.
According to the investigation, on March 2, 2020 the defendant allegedly went to the building of the mother of his child, Nzingha Keyes, 26, at 652 East 187 Street. The defendant was in the hallway with neighbors and his girlfriend, Dominique Ben-David, 22, when Keyes arrived with the three-year-old boy. Portis allegedly pushed them and Ben-David into Keyes’ apartment and refused to let them leave the residence for two days. Throughout the 48 hours, the defendant allegedly beat and strangled Keyes, who was pregnant, and brutally beat Ben-David. On March 4, 2020, Keyes fled the apartment with the child as the defendant slept and did not report the incident to police until later.
On April 10, 2020 detectives went to the apartment, to speak with Keyes about Portis. When detectives approached the apartment, they saw the door was open and noticed the odor of a decomposing body. Detectives entered and discovered the body of Ben-David.
According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Ben-David suffered two fractures to each side of her neck. The cause of death was classified as homicidal violence.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Andrew Nash and Octavia Signor of the 48th Precinct Detective Squad, and NYPD Detective John Ferretti of the Bronx Homicide Squad for their assistance in the investigation.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
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