BRONX MAN INDICTED FOR MURDER OF GIRLFRIEND; LIED TO POLICE THAT THEY WERE ATTACKED BY ROBBERS

 

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a Bronx man who allegedly fabricated a story about knife-wielding robbers on mopeds attacking him and his girlfriend on City Island Road has been indicted on second-degree Murder and additional charges for fatally stabbing her. 

District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly stabbed his girlfriend and tried to cover it up with a phony story about robbers attacking them. Video surveillance footage and other evidence refuted his claim. He now faces justice for this vicious crime.” 

District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Franklin Batallas, 44, of Westchester Avenue, was arraigned today on second-degree Murder, first-degree Manslaughter, and fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Alvin Yearwood. Remand was continued and he is due back in court on January 14, 2025.  

According to the investigation, on September 17, 2025, at approximately 7:20 p.m., the defendant picked up his girlfriend Anthonella Contreras, 30, from a Manhattan hospital where she worked as a nurse. He allegedly drove to Pelham Bay Park where he struck her multiple times in the face and neck with a sharp instrument. He then drove to the City Island Bridge, and then to Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital. Contreras was pronounced dead on arrival. Batallas was treated for a cut on his arm and released. 

According to the investigation, Batallas allegedly claimed that he pulled over on Rodman’s Neck near the City Island Road traffic circle, and men pulled up on mopeds to rob the couple and attacked them with knives. Surveillance video does not reveal any people on mopeds in the area at the time of the alleged supposed attack. Video footage from the bridge showed the victim’s car pull over on the side of the bridge, where investigators found blood stains. A bracelet owned by the defendant was recovered in the water below. 

District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Sean Liscoe and Paula Aguero of the 45th Precinct and Patrick Flatley of Bronx Homicide Squad, and as well as Police Officers Joseph Barone and Alex Llaurado, of the NYPD Harbor Unit, Scuba Team, for their work in the investigation, as well as the New Rochelle Police Department.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.