Beau nabbed in woman’s’05 slay

A man accused of killing his childhood sweetheart and mother of his two children more than a decade ago casually shrugged off the cold-blooded murder when cops finally slapped the cuffs on him Tuesday.

“After all this time, I am being charged with that?” Julius Esquilin, 36, asked detectives during his 5:30 a.m. arrest after finally being linked to the death of Desiree Cofield in 2005.

Cofield’s 3-year-old daughter and 4year-old nephew were just paces away inside the couple’s Bedford Stuyvesant apartment when the 22-year-old mom was blasted in the head on Feb. 19, 2005, officials said.

Her body was found sprawled out on the sofa.

Esquilin was also found inside the apartment by cops — smashing picture frames and trying to jump on his dead girlfriend’s body in a fit of rage — but the ex-con never admitted to killing her.

Instead, he claimed a phantom gunman looking to shoot him killed his girlfriend instead, officials said.

But a “thorough reinvestigation” of the case by the NYPD Cold Case Squad and the Brooklyn district attorney’s office turned up additional witnesses — so murder charges could finally stick, sources with knowledge of the case said.

Esquilin was indicted on seconddegree murder, weapons possession and endangering the welfare of a child charges.

Sporting a blue sweater, Levi’s jeans and blue sneakers, the wide-eyed Esquilin looked around the courthouse looking for a familiar face as the charges were read — but couldn’t find any.

A judge ordered him held without bail. If found guilty, he’s facing 25 years to life behind bars, officials said.

Police said Cofield was found dead inside her Greene Ave. apartment about 1:50 a.m.

Cofield and Esquilin had been seen fighting outside the Greene Ave. building. The fight had continued inside their apartment, where a neighbor heard a single gunshot followed by a flash of blue light, according to court papers.

A few moments later, the neighbor heard Cofield’s daughter cry out. “Mommy! Mommy!” the girl screamed, according to court papers.

Esquilin then banged on his neighbor’s door, yelling, “I know you heard that; call the police!”

When cops and EMTs arrived, they found Esquilin inside the apartment the couple shared, officials said. A .380-caliber shell casing, as well as a live round was recovered, but no gun was found.

Cops did find a letter signed by Esquilin next to Cofield’s body that read, “Even if I am gone, I still love all of my daughters and my big mouth baby mama.”

The letter was later lost while in evidence storage, officials said.

Prosecutors said both Esquilin and Cofield grew up together. Esquilin was best friends with Cofield’s older brother.

“They knew each other their whole lives,” Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Samantha Magnani said.

A neighbor who remembers the couple said Esquilin was abusive. “He would smoke some sort of foolishness and then attack his wife. He would brutalize that girl,” said the man, an 81-year-old retired hospital worker.

“He just now got arrested for this?” he cried in astonishment. “I can’t believe he wasn’t locked up a long time ago.”