Body-parts vic ID’d
Sad past bared amid 2 arrests
The identity of a woman whose body parts were placed in bags and dumped at two Bronx parks was released by police Wednesday as two arrests were made in the case.
And in a tragic twist, it was learned that, as a young girl, the victim had witnessed her pregnant mother’s brutal murder.
Lisa Marie Velasquez, 25, of Melrose, died of “multiple blunt-impact” blows to the head before pieces of her corpse were found at Crotona Park on Saturday and then on Tuesday on a pier in Hunts Point, according to police and the city medical examiner.
“She was tortured, for Christ sake, she didn’t deserve that,” said Velasquez’s aunt, Jacqueline Perez.
“She was a good girl. It’s heartbreaking to me.”
Velasquez’s mother was slain in 2006.
“My sister was tortured in the past and we had to go through all of this,” Perez said.
Velazquez’s mom, Marilyn Ginel, was nearly nine months’ pregnant when she was murdered by ex-boyfriend Robert Coakley while Lisa and her two siblings watched in horror.
The coldblooded killer even stole the kids’ allowance money and threatened to cut off one child’s ear before fleeing the scene. Lisa, who was 12 years old at the time, told The Post:
“He said, ‘Where’s the money at?’ and I said, ‘ Why do I have to tell you?’
“I wanted to buy the [unborn] baby a crib. I wanted to help Mom as much as I could and buy the baby clothes and food. I wanted to be a supportive sister.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday night Daquan Wheeler, 31, was arrested in Velasquez’s death, on charges of murder, concealment of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
Ciara Martinez, 30, was arrested for allegedly helping to conceal the body and hindering prosecution.
“She was my friend. I loved her,” Martinez said in custody outside the 42nd Precinct station house.
Both were awaiting their arraignment at Bronx Criminal Court early Thursday.
Velasquez was reported missing by her grandmother, who told police she had last seen her Aug. 22.
Two days later, workers found what appeared to be the remains of a woman inside two plastic bags at Crotona Park.
Then Tuesday evening, a bag containing a human foot was discovered about two miles south, at Barretto Point Park in Hunts Point.
The Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Velasquez had been beaten to death and suffered “multiple blunt-impact injuries of [the] head with skull fractures.”