Police say man staged robbery in woman's death
SOUTHBRIDGE - New York City police initially described the killing of an 18-year-old local woman, Chelsea Frazier, in the Bronx on Sunday as an apparent robbery gone awry. But the case took a more sinister turn yesterday when detectives arrested the woman's former boyfriend and his cousin for the shooting of Frazier, which occurred as she sat in a car with her toddler in the back seat.
The former boyfriend, Carlos Cruz, 36, of Southbridge, and his cousin Devon Miller, 25, of the Bronx, will be arraigned today in Bronx Criminal Court on murder charges. Family and friends of Frazier, several of whom doubted the robbery angle from the start, said the killing was retaliation by Cruz, the father of 1-year-old Alijah, because Cruz was upset that Frazier recently broke off their engagement.
"If he couldn't have her then nobody was," said Frazier's grandfather, Robert Manthorne. "He was going to do what he had to do."
Cruz allegedly concocted a story about an unknown gunman robbing the pair after they pulled to the side of the road in a remote section of the Bronx. That description drew eerie parallels to a similar case that rocked Boston in the fall of 1989 when Charles Stuart shot to death his pregnant wife, Carol DiMaiti Stuart, in their car in Mission Hill, while shooting himself to add authenticity to his story about an unknown gunman.
Like Stuart, Cruz also received a bullet wound, but unlike Stuart, Cruz was not the one who pulled the trigger. Cruz allegedly paid Miller $1,000 to fire the gun, with two bullets striking Frazier in the torso, The
Lieutenant John Grimpel, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, would not release any details about the shooting last night, saying only "we gathered information that the original story wasn't correct."
Cruz had told police that he and Frazier were shot during a robbery. The pair had been in New York shopping for discount clothing for their son, according to members of Frazier's family.
According to police, Miller confessed to being the gunman during an interrogration yesterday and police then used that information to persuade Cruz to admit his role in the killing, the Times said.
Family members interviewed yesterday said they had a bad feeling about Cruz and encouraged Frazier to end the relationship, but she initially resisted.
"As a big brother I had instincts," said Casey Frazier, 27. "She was naïve, that's what she was. She didn't want to take anybody's advice, especially on him, and that's the way it goes."
But Frazier increasingly found Cruz to be overly possessive, calling her in the middle of the night to check on her, family members said. She worked at Centerfolds 2000 in North Oxford, while he was on the road as a truck driver.
"He wanted to control her," said Frazier's grandmother, Shirley Manthorne. "She couldn't take that anymore, I think. Just because he was the father of the baby, you don't have to put up with abuse."
Frazier broke off the engagement about a month ago, giving Cruz back his engagement ring, her grandparents said. He then traded it for a gold chain, which he later allegedly told police was stolen during the robbery on Sunday.
"Towards the end, there was a lot of anger," said Robert Manthorne.
A man who refused to identify himself at Cruz's house in Southbridge said he had no comment about the murder allegations.
Frazier dropped out of Southbridge High School her sophomore year, but went on to earn her GED. She was studying to become a massage therapist.
Frazier's neighbor Rachael Wood said the teenager was putting her time with Cruz behind her. "She got engaged to him for the baby's sake," Wood said. "Then for the baby's sake, she called it off, because of him." The toddler is now being cared for by members of Frazier's family.
Wood said she was disgusted by allegations Cruz had paid a relative to kill Frazier.
"To kill someone for that is sick," she said. "He had to have it planned."
Another neighbor, Scott Larochelle, who has known the Manthornes for years, said the entire neighborhood was dumbfounded by Frazier's death. "One thousand dollars for a life," Larochelle said. "It was a thrill kill. I hope he gets what he deserves in jail. Now he's never going to see his kid."
James Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, said suspicions always should be raised when a woman dies in a robbery gone awry and a male companion receives only a minor injury.
"When women are murdered, the suspicion statistically falls to a husband, a boyfriend, or an ex," Fox said. "Sometimes, of course, the men will make it look like a stranger performed the crime, or sometimes they will hire someone else to do it. Like in the Stuart case: How can I be a perpetrator when I'm a victim."
James Vaznis can be reached at jvaznis@globe.com.
