2 suspects charged in brutal murder of Bronx woman

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Police have upgraded the charges against one of the two people arrested in connection with the death of a woman whose body parts turned up in two parks in the Bronx in recent days.

Ciara Martinez, 30, is now charged with murder, manslaughter, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and weapon possession in the death of Lisa Marie Velasquez, 25, of the Bronx, the NYPD announced Thursday.

Daquan Wheeler, 31, is charged with murder, manslaughter, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and weapon possession.

Martinez and Wheeler, who live together in the Bronx, are accused of beating Velasquez to death and dumping her body parts in two parks about 2 miles apart. The medical examiner said she died of "homicidal violence including blunt force trauma."

On Tuesday evening, visitors found Velasquez's arms and feet in trash bags under a pier in Barretto Point Park in Hunts Point.

On Friday, a Parks Department worker found two bags containing her head and torso in Crotona Park.

When Velasquez was 12, she and her younger siblings witnessed a man stab and strangle their mother to death, the New York Times reported. The killer was the mother's boyfriend.

"I want to thank the men and women of the 42 Detective Squad, Bronx Homicide and all who worked on the murder case of Lisa Marie Velasquez," Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea tweeted. "Your collective efforts led to those responsible for her murder. Two perpetrators are now in custody."

With the Associated Press