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Bronx Woman Killed By Online Chat Buddy
By
Jen Chung
Published May 15, 2009
Modified May 15, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 15, 2009
Modified May 15, 2009
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On Tuesday around 12:30 p.m., a young woman was fatally stabbed in St. Mary's Park in the Bronx. It turns out that Nimzay Aponte, 23, managed to tell the police as she was dying that "Mike did it"—referring to the screenname of her killer. Police arrested Raymond Dennis yesterday and charged him with murder, illegal weapons possession and assault.
According to the Daily News, Aponte and Dennis apparently met on Local-Hookupz.com, chatting on that site as well as chatting by AOL Instant Messenger. Police say that Aponte refused to meet him, so Dennis sought her out at a job fair on Monday. The News reports, Dennis allegedly said, "Isn't this lovely? What's this? Some kind of double date?" and then left, but then returned on Tuesday to kill Aponte, yelling "I told you not to lie!" He also stabbed her male companion, who survived.
Aponte's roommate said that Aponte only thought of Dennis as annoyance, "He said he didn't want to see her with another guy." Dennis has previously served time for violent acts and threats against women, including punching a woman. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said of crimes linked to social networking, "This is a phenomenon that is with us. This is the world in which we live.... People have to take reasonable precautions." (It's reported that Aponte let Dennis know that she was going to the job fair near St. Mary's again on Tuesday.)
Tagged
AOL INstant Messenger
bronx
mott haven
murder
Nimzay Aponte
social networking site
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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