Defendant Was Convicted of First-Degree Murder After Jury Trial; Victim Killed Over Relationship with Defendant’s Sister
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a Bronx man who stabbed and burned alive an 18-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree Murder after a three-week jury trial.
District Attorney Clark said, “Winston Ortiz was killed in a torturous manner; stabbed and then set afire while he was still alive, because the defendant was upset that his sister and Winston had had a relationship. He will be remembered as a caring, family oriented young man and it’s unfathomable to think he was killed in such a horrific way.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Adones Betances, 26, last of 1100 University Avenue, was sentenced to life in prison without parole by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Jeanette Rodriguez-Morick. A jury convicted Betances on February 9, 2024, of first-degree Murder after a three-week jury trial.
According to the investigation, on August 12, 2020, at approximately 3:00 p.m. inside the 5th floor hallway of 1045 Woodycrest Avenue, the defendant approached the victim, Winston Ortiz, 18, and started an argument because he was upset over his sister’s relationship with the victim. Betances stabbed Ortiz multiple times in the chest and back before dousing the victim in lighter fluid, setting him ablaze. Residents heard Winton’s screams from the hallway and found him on fire. During the trial, body worn camera footage from a responding officer was played, showing Winston in his final moments, naming his attacker and praying before he died.
District Attorney Clark also thanked NYPD Detective Arelis Dubose of the Bronx Homicide Task Force, and NYPD Detective Corey Simpson, retired NYPD Detective Claudio Velez, and NYPD Sergeants Vanessa Solis and Danielle Martinez, all of the 44th Precinct, for their work in the investigation.
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