Justice, after 21 years
Rapist-killer gets long jail stretch in horrific ’99 attack
The family of a Bronx woman who died after a brutal 1999 rape and stabbing by her downstairs neighbor finally got justice Tuesday — their loved one’s killer was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
Curtis Batchelor was 24 when he stabbed 56-year-old Elsa Grullon 22 times in the face, neck and chest as he raped her, leaving her under a blanket in her Highbridge apartment. Her son-in-law found her dead on May 27, 1999.
“Since she was taken from us, our family is still dealing with the aftermath of the trauma till this day,” Grullon’s granddaughter, Natalia Inoa, 23, said at Batchelor’s sentencing in Bronx Supreme Court. “Some members of our family have fallen victim to depression, others alcoholism and grandchildren left robbed without the memories of a grandmother. But our family is strong and has found strength in the pain.”
Batchelor nearly eluded capture.
When he was busted on felony drug charges in 2013, police almost missed their chance to connect him to the gruesome crime. He’d been ordered by a court to submit a DNA sample to go into a state database, but never showed up to provide the specimen, police sources said.
In January 2016, however, he was caught illegally using a student MetroCard. Though the charge against him was dismissed, police learned of the unanswered court order, and forced him to provide his DNA. A few months later, his sample was matched to DNA on Grullon’s body.
It took until February 2017 to find and arrest him.
Batchelor, now 44, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter as part of a negotiated deal with prosecutors. The rape charge against him was dismissed as part of that deal.
Judge James McCarty sentenced him to 20 years, followed by five years of post-release supervision.
Inoa called Grullon the matriarch of her family, who left behind two sons and three daughters, and never got to meet her 18 grandchildren and two great-grandsons.
“Finally we are here, decades later we will finally get some justice,” she said. “Speaking to the defendant now we would like to say: We forgive you, we want you to be punished for your horrific sin, but as Christians we believe anyone is capable of redemption.”
“Only you know why you committed such as horrific act, we can forgive your actions, but we can’t forgive your soul,” she added. “That is between you and God. We would like to thank everyone involved in this case.”
Batchelor made no statement.
His lawyer, Troy Smith, offered the family his condolences, and said outside the courtroom, “This is a brutal cold case murder. It’s a good result for the defendant, a horrific crime, it gives the family closure.”
Inoa said the family was satisfied by the sentence, and said she was delighted to learn his slip-up in 2016 lead to his arrest.
“We never really thought it was going to get solved,” she said. “We’re so thankful and happy that they reopened the case.”