Bronx ex-con charged with beating his 79-year-old mother to death

Sheetal Banchariya, Rocco Parascandola, Leonard Greene, New York Daily News
Updated ·2 min read
1

An ex-con accused of beating his 79-year-old mother to death in her Bronx apartment was arrested at the scene with a switchblade in his pocket and fresh scratches on his face, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Melvin Arias, 57, was charged in Bronx Criminal Court with the unspeakable — murdering his mother during an argument in their home.

Prosecutors said Francisca Trinidad was killed late Monday in the family’s apartment on the Grand Concourse near E. 156th St.

Cops responding to a 11:23 p.m. 911 call from a neighbor who said she heard a loud argument found Trinidad dead, police said.

Arias was charged Tuesday night with murder, manslaughter, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

“The defendant was found at the scene with a knife on his person and fresh scratches on his face that were still bleeding,” prosecutor Michael Pabon said during Arias’ arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court on Wednesday. The victim “had defensive wounds on her hands and face,” he added.

Prosecutors say Arias struck his mother with both his hands and a sharp object, causing her to fall and lose consciousness. She was found dead with a bruised face and bleeding cuts to her hands.

Pabon said surveillance video shows Arias taking out a black trash bag. “The bag contained duct tape, blood and hair,” Pabon said.

Arias has a total of five prior convictions and three failures to appear in court, officials said. He did two-and-a-half years in prison for criminal possession of a weapon and was released in 1995.

The ex-con was ordered held without bail during his arraignment. If found guilty, he faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.

The victim’s apartment building was the site of a grisly murder more than five years ago involving a local gang and an innocent mother.

Wendy Martinez, 45, was killed in December 2018 when a gunman rang her doorbell and shot her through the peephole as she looked to see who was there.

Cops suspected the shooter had been targeting her son Brian Solano, who was on trial for murder. Solano had been charged four years earlier in the shooting death of a brother of a high-ranking Trinitarios gang member.

Martinez’s sister, Leyda Martinez, 48, said Tuesday the family left the building after her sister’s death.

“We all moved out of that place after that,” she said. “Maybe there is something up with that building. I feel sorry for [Trinidad]. Hope they find out what happened.”