The monster who ambushed his estranged girlfriend in her Harlem apartment building and stabbed her as many as 50 times claimed he was blackout drunk and can’t remember, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Luis Marquez, 41, was arraigned on murder charges and ordered held without bail in the vicious early Monday morning attack on Carmen Lopez, his on-again, off-again girlfriend of five years — as disturbing new details in the blood-curdling attack emerged, prosecutors said.
Marquez allegedly stalked Lopez during her night out with friends at a local club, then lay in wait for more than two hours in the stairwell of her West 129th Street apartment until she returned home around 4 a.m., Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Jonathon Junig said in court.
Luis Marquez, 41, allegedly waited more than two hours for Carmen Lopez to return home to Harlem before killing her. Steven Hirsch for the NY Post
Carmen Lopez, a 47-year-old mother of four, pleaded for her life while being stabbed multiple times, authorities said. Robert Mecea“When the victim exited the elevator onto her floor, [Marquez] lunged at her, pinned her to the ground and repeatedly stabbed her in her stomach, her throat and her chest,” Junig said.
“Even as the victim laid motionless on the ground covered in blood, [Marquez] continued to plunge the knife into her chest with both hands to ensure her demise.”
Lopez was heard repeatedly screaming, “No, Luis,” during the relentless attack.
Carmen Lopez, 47, dated Luis Marquez on and off for about five years before he allegedly killed her.
Prosecutors said the knife punctured both her liver and aorta.
Marquez allegedly returned home to the Bronx and confessed to relatives, and was arrested after an acquaintance took him to a local hospital for psychiatric observation, authorities said.
“During an interview post-Miranda [rights], [Marquez] claimed he was blackout drunk and had no memory of what happened,” Junig said, adding that the accused killer did identify himself on surveillance photos and video from the scene of the gruesome crime.
Police said Lopez, 47, has four children, including two who were asleep in her apartment just steps away from where she was left to die in the hallway. A maintenance worker later found her.
In court Wednesday, Marquez, still wearing the Hollister jacket he wore when he was arrested, remained expressionless as a Spanish-language interpreter translated the proceedings.
Luis Marquez allegedly told police he was blackout drunk and doesn’t remember killing Carmen Lopez on Monday. Stephen Yang for NY PostHe and Lopez occasionally dated over the past several years, with friends describing Marquez as insanely jealous and increasingly furious she did not focus more of her attention on him.
His arrest stunned coworkers at RE Meat Market on Ogden Avenue, where he had worked for nearly six months — and had clocked out just hours before the slaying.
“I have a headache since the day I found out,” meat market owner Ramon Cedano told The Post. “Everybody is shocked, I’m telling you. He doesn’t talk, nothing, nothing. It’s like I would never harm anybody and for me to do something like this and people come in and say, ‘Ramon did this,’ it’s like everybody is gonna be shocked. It’s the same with him.
Ramon Cedano, owner of RC Meat Market, where Luis Marquez worked, said everyone is shocked at his arrest. Robert Miller“You can ask the whole neighborhood and they’re gonna tell you the same thing.”
Neighbors said Marquez rented a room in the Bronx and never seemed to cause trouble, visiting a local barber shop every Friday to have his head shaved.
“He’s never a problem. He is very quiet. He’s closed-mouthed,” barber Santiago Torres said. “I’m telling you, everybody’s still in shock.”
Marquez is due back in court on Nov. 17 and faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life if convicted.
