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May 24, 2013, 5:26am

Forum :: Other Crime :: Murder :: Idelfonso Velez who called 911 charged in deaths

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Topic: Idelfonso Velez who called 911 charged in deaths (Read 598 times)

dawn
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Idelfonso Velez who called 911 charged in deaths
« Thread Started on Aug 6, 2010, 8:35am »

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The 28-year-old Framingham man who called police in May to report the slaying of a young Hudson couple was arraigned yesterday on two first-degree murder charges.

Hudson police responded to a call from Idelfonso Velez at about 3:30 a.m. May 1, according to the police report. They found him suffering from multiple stab wounds in a parking lot outside the apartment complex where Trisha Bennett, 20, and Angel “Fito’’ Ortiz, 23, lived. Velez told police that two men had broken into the couple’s apartment and that one had stabbed them during a struggle in the bedroom.

But after months of investigating, police arrested Velez in connection with the deaths late Tuesday at the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge, where he had been held since being arrested in June on charges of illegal possession of a firearm and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Yesterday, Judge Robert V. Greco ordered Velez held without bail.

Friends and family of the victims packed the courtroom in Marlborough where the arraignment took place. A woman friends identified as Bennett’s mother sat in the front row, shaking uncontrollably and crying throughout the proceeding.

“It’s unbelievable,’’ said Melissa Chaves, 29, who said she was a friend of the couple.

Police estimate that Ortiz was stabbed four times and Bennett 14 times.

No motive for the attack was discussed at the arraignment.

According to police records, Velez told responding officers that he was a friend of the victims and was sleeping at the apartment after he, Ortiz, and Bennett “partied for a while, did some coke, and drank some beers.’’ He said he awoke to the sounds of a struggle coming from the master bedroom.

He said Ortiz and he had been involved in a failed plot to commit armed robbery earlier in the night, an admission authorities said led to his initial arrest.

When he walked into the next room the night of the killings, he told police, he saw Ortiz gasping for air and “some guy in the room holding a knife,’’ according to the report. He later told police there were two attackers.

Throughout the investigation, police said they found inconsistencies in Velez’s story and other statements from witnesses and friends of the victims who had seen the couple the night of the slayings.

Massachusetts State Police crime lab investigators also tested evidence found at the scene, such as the knife believed to have been used in the killings and the dead bolt on the apartment door. Both had Velez’s DNA on them, according to police records.

“We thank the State Police detectives, Hudson police, and the Massachusetts State Police crime lab for their diligent work on this case, resulting in an arrest,’’ Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said in a statement yesterday. “Our thoughts continue to go out to the victims’ families.’’

Friends and family said Ortiz had three children, all under the age of 5, and Bennett was the mother of a 3-year-old girl.

“How do you explain it to a 3-year-old that mommy’s not coming home?’’ Chaves asked.

One member of Ortiz’s family stood up and loudly swore at Velez in Spanish as he was being led out of the courtroom. A woman whom defense attorney Thomas J. Ford addressed as Velez’s mother wept as her son passed by with his hands and legs shackled.

Velez’s criminal arrest record dates back to 1997 and includes 13 crimes, ranging from trespassing to assault and battery with a weapon. He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 9 for a probable cause hearing, court officials said.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massach....rged_in_deaths/

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dawn
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Re: Idelfonso Velez who called 911 charged in deat
« Reply #1 on Aug 10, 2010, 11:05am »

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The man charged this week in a double homicide in Hudson spent most of the three months since the killings in the hospital and in jail, the Middlesex district attorney's office said.

Idelfonso Velez, 27, of Framingham, is accused of murdering Trisha Bennett, 20, and Angel Ortiz, 23. Police found the Hudson couple dead from multiple stab wounds in their home on May 1.

Velez called 911 to report a home invasion, authorities have said. When police arrived at the Emerson Gardens condo complex at 200 Manning St. at about 3:30 a.m. on May 1, they found Velez in the parking lot, suffering from stab wounds.

Police found inconsistencies with Velez's statements about how he, too, had been attacked by intruders, suspecting he was involved in the stabbings.

Investigators built their case while keeping track of his whereabouts.

"It is our understanding that for the majority of (the three-month investigation), he was hospitalized," said Cara O'Brien, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

Velez also spent some of that time in jail.

In an ambulance on the way to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester on the night of the murders, Velez told a Hudson police officer that he, Ortiz and another man had been planning to hold up someone in Marlborough earlier that evening.

The men armed themselves with loaded handguns and planned to rob a drug dealer near the entrance to an East Main Street apartment building, according to court records.

The dealer was going to deliver drugs to that address, but didn't show up. Velez agreed to hide the loaded guns behind a stove in an East Main Street apartment, according to court records. Police determined the weapons were improperly stored and did not have safety locks.

Velez told investigators about his role in the planned robbery and admitted to possessing a loaded gun during the attempt, according to court records.

Based on those statements, police on June 30 arrested Velez on gun and conspiracy charges, O'Brien said.

That meant Velez was in custody up until his arrest late Tuesday night at the county jail in Cambridge.

DNA evidence linked Velez to the murder weapon: a knife left in the kitchen, the DA's office said. The state police crime lab found a mixture of Velez's and Bennett's blood on Velez's pants and concluded that Velez must have been close to the stabbing, according to court records.

Velez, who stayed at the Hudson couple's home that night, told police that he was awoken by a struggle in the master bedroom. He first said there was one attacker but later told police there were two, according to court records.

Velez said he struggled with two men, and claimed one of them stabbed him in the stomach, court records said.

Velez is scheduled to return to court Sept. 9.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/p....l-during-pr obe

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