18-year-old dies after being stabbed, set on fire in the Bronx

Winston Ortiz was a shy teenager who family members said had become depressed in recent days over a breakup with his first girlfriend. So, he was excited when he heard from her on Wednesday afternoon, they said, and he left his family’s Bronx apartment in high spirits.

He never returned.

About 3 pm, Ortiz was stabbed in the chest, doused with a flammable liquid and then set on fire while he was still alive in the hallway of a nearby apartment building, police said. He died hours later at a hospital in Harlem.

The next day, police arrested his former girlfriend’s brother, Adones Betances, 22, on charges of manslaughter and murder. Detectives believed that the two men had argued about Ortiz’s relationship with Betances’ 15-year-old sister, said a law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation.

“We got a call from one of the police officers who were at the scene,” his father, who is also named Winston Ortiz, said. “They said his last words to them were his mother’s phone number.”

The gruesome killing comes as New York City wrestles with a spike in violent crime. So far this year, shootings are up nearly 75 percent over the same period last year, and homicides have risen by about 30 percent.

Betances was arrested on Thursday evening, and as he was marched out of the 44th Precinct’s station house in handcuffs, he told reporters, “I was framed.”

On Friday, Betances appeared before a Bronx criminal court judge, who ordered him held in jail after a defense lawyer asked for more time to prepare an argument for bail.

According to a criminal complaint, Ortiz’s statements to the police before he died led investigators to Betances.

Members of the Ortiz family gathered outside the courthouse and chanted “Justice for Winston” as Betances’ relatives left.

One of Ortiz’s aunts, Nancy Tamarez, said police had told the family that Ortiz was praying when officers found him, bleeding and badly burned, in the fifth-floor hallway of 1045 Woodycrest Ave., near Yankee Stadium.

“The police told us that he was praying even as he felt that excruciating pain,” Tamarez said. “He was praying, he was saying, ‘God forgive him for what he’s doing to me.’”

Ortiz lived a block away from where he was killed, police said. His father called him a “lovable boy” who “wanted to make people’s lives better.”

Other family members and neighbours described him as a young man who was close to his two younger brothers and parents, and who seemed focused on school and baseball.

A former teacher said he loved art and science, and described him as having “so much potential”. He had graduated from Metropolitan Lighthouse Charter School in the High Bridge neighbourhood of the Bronx and had planned to attend college.

His 17-year-old brother, Wilmer Ortiz, said he overheard Ortiz on the telephone with his girlfriend when she broke up with him. Ortiz immediately started crying, his brother said, and was difficult to console.

After the breakup, Ortiz and some of his family members had visited another aunt, Victoria Cruz, at her home in Virginia. Throughout the visit, Cruz said, he still seemed crestfallen.

“The only thing he was worried about was his girlfriend,” she said. “He said, ‘I miss her.’ You know, the puppy love. I told him, ‘You are young. You are going to find 2,000 more girls, trust me.’”

Ortiz was still pondering his future plans, she added, but he had dreamed about landing a high-paying job so that he could purchase a house.

“I don’t know how anyone could do this to a human being, let alone to a kid,” Cruz said.

While in high school, his younger brother said, Ortiz was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm after he complained of recurring headaches. He survived surgery to treat the problem, and his family was relieved that it appeared he would live a normal life.

Trishell Figueroa, also a resident at the building where Ortiz lived, recalled seeing the teenager pass her in hallways, oftentimes carrying a bible in his hand. She said he played baseball and was “always with his family.”

“It’s heartbreaking, because I’ve never seen anything else but going to work and going to church,” said Figueroa, who has lived in the building for about 14 years.