Bronx man indicted for allegedly killing girlfriend and staging fake robbery on City Island Road
Bronx, N.Y. – A 44-year-old Bronx man who told police that knife-wielding robbers on mopeds attacked him and his girlfriend is now charged with murder after investigators say surveillance video and evidence revealed that he fatally stabbed her and fabricated the story.
Franklin Batallas of Westchester Avenue was arraigned in Bronx Supreme Court on charges of second-degree Murder, first-degree Manslaughter, and fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon. Prosecutors say Batallas killed his girlfriend, 30-year-old nurse Anthonella Contreras, on the evening of Sept. 17 before taking her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Investigators allege Batallas picked up Contreras from her workplace in Manhattan that evening and drove toward Pelham Bay Park, where he struck her repeatedly in the face and neck with a sharp object. He then drove across the City Island Bridge and later to Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital, claiming the couple had been attacked by men on mopeds.
Police said his account quickly unraveled. Surveillance footage from Rodman’s Neck and City Island Road showed no mopeds or people in the area at the time of the alleged robbery. Investigators later found blood along the bridge and a bracelet belonging to Batallas in the water below.
He was treated for a minor cut on his arm and released before being charged following the homicide investigation. Batallas is being held without bail and is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 14.
The case is being prosecuted by David Birnbaum and Megan Leo of the Bronx District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau under the supervision of Agata DiGiovanni, Simon Folkard, Adrienne Giunta, and Joseph Muroff. Detectives from the 45th Precinct, Bronx Homicide Squad, and NYPD Harbor Unit assisted in the investigation.
The charges in the indictment are accusations, and Batallas is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
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Key Points
- Franklin Batallas, 44, was indicted for allegedly stabbing his girlfriend, nurse Anthonella Contreras, to death on Sept. 17 in the Bronx
- Investigators say he falsely claimed they were attacked by robbers on mopeds, a story disproven by surveillance footage
- Evidence including blood stains and a bracelet found in the water linked him to the killing