Boyfriend charged in NYC slaying of Southbridge woman
(Craig Ruttle/AP)
New York City detectives led Carlos Cruz away from the 43d precinct in the Bronx today after he was arrested and charged in connection with the shooting death of Chelsea Frazier.
By Globe Staff
A Massachusetts man has been arrested in the killing of his girlfriend over the weekend in New York.
Carlos Cruz, 36, of Southbridge is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of Chelsea Frazier, 18, also of Southbridge. Cruz's cousin, Devon Miller, 25, of New York, is also charged with murder.
Frazier was found shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday in the driver's seat of her car in the Bronx with two gunshot wounds in her torso. She was shot while her 1-year-old son was in the back seat.
Police are not looking for any suspects other than Cruz and Miller, said a spokesman in the Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information.
Cruz was the father of Frazier's child. He suffered a minor gunshot wound to the leg in the incident. He allegedly recruited his cousin to kill Frazier in a staged robbery of the couple, The New York Times reported today on its website.
Investigators told the Times that Cruz's cousin came to the door of the car, shot Frazier, and fled. But as his cousin ran away, Cruz shouted that he had forgotten to shoot him, at which point the gunman shot Cruz.
The robbery was apparently motivated by Cruz's troubled relationship with Frazier. Cruz paid Miller $1,000 to kill Frazier, police told the Times.
The two men will be arraigned tomorrow in Bronx Criminal Court.
Frazier's stepfather, Raymond Snow, told the Globe Monday that Frazier had dropped out of Southbridge High School during her sophomore year, but had earned a GED and was studying massage therapy. He said Frazier went to New York to buy spring and summer clothing for her son. Family members are now taking care of the boy, he said.
