Brutal L.E.S. murder
Raul Barrera, 33, surrendered to police a few hours after the body of his girlfriend, Sarah Coit, 23, was found in their apartment at 63 Clinton St. with multiple stab wounds and her head nearly severed at 2:37 a.m. Sun., April 10. The suspect turned himself in at the Ninth Precinct after phoning his father for advice while on the way to Penn Station. He was taken to the Seventh Precinct where he was charged with second-degree murder.
Coit, described as a blonde beauty by friends and colleagues at Lacoste where she worked in sales, had frequent loud arguments with the suspect and was heard screaming just before her death in the building between Delancey and Rivington Sts. She was the only daughter of Lynde Coit, a financial adviser, and his wife, Anne Taylor, of Riverside, Conn. The victim was enrolled last year in Hunter College where she was studying for a marketing career.
Barrera, who was arrested last year for assaulting a man in Midtown, worked freelance in public relations for companies including Propaganda NY and Coleman Entertainment Group. He admitted to police that he killed the victim during an argument about breaking up, but said she first grabbed the kitchen knife, which he wrested from her. He was being held without bail pending an April 15 court appearance.
‘Give me everything’
A man who followed a woman to her home at 117 Varick St. near Broome St. around 10:30 p.m. Fri., April 8, confronted her in the vestibule at gunpoint, police said. The suspect said, “Give me everything. I don’t want to hurt you. Just do what I say.” The robber took her cell phone and demanded that she take off her rings. When one of the rings wouldn’t come off quickly, the suspect said, “You’re taking too long. Don’t make me take it.” The thief fled on foot with the victim’s rings, iPhone and wallet with $800 cash. She told police that she had seen an accomplice standing guard outside the building.
W. 4th St. stabbing
An argument between two strangers in front of 256 W. Fourth St. between Perry and Charles Sts. around 2:45 a.m. Sun., March 27, ended with one man stabbed multiple times in the torso, police said. The suspect fled on foot in an unknown direction, and the victim, 23, a Village resident, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in serious condition.
Subway death
A man who was not identified was struck and killed by a B train in the W. Fourth St. subway station shortly before 11 a.m. Wed., April 6, an NYC Transit spokesperson said. Officials were unable to say how the victim got onto the tracks. The incident interrupted B train service for more than two hours and resulted in the D train running on the A line until later in the day.
Side of zip-lock
Police arrested Gregory Bostrom, 21, in front of Mamoun’s falafel restaurant, 119 MacDougal St., shortly before 11:30 p.m. Fri., April 8, after he got into a fight with employees and broke a lamp in the place. When an officer was about to put handcuffs on Bostrom, the suspect pulled a zip-lock plastic bag from his right pocket, swallowed it and struggled to avoid being handcuffed. Police did not say what was in the zip-lock bag.
Boy missing
Police this week were asking public help in finding a boy last seen in his home at 297 E. 10th St. across from Tompkins Square Park at 12:30 p.m. Sun., April 10. Alexander Vorlicky, age 14, is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, 115 pounds, has blond hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a black jacket with numerous zippers, black jeans and white sneakers. Police said Vorlicky was known to frequent Central Park.
Meatpacking bust
A female employee of The Collective, a bar at 1 Little W. 12th St. in the Meatpacking District, called police around 1:10 p.m. Mon., April 4, about a suspect she remembered from a previous visit. Police arrived and arrested Carlos Jimenez, 35, and charged him with possession of two credit cards and a check that did not belong to him. The suspect, who was previously arrested for grand larceny, also had $2,800 on him that police said was stolen property.
Chair, bite and pipe
An 18-year-old told police that Christopher Robinson, also 18, attacked him around 9 p.m. Sun., April 10, on W. Third St. near MacDougal St. The suspect reportedly threw a chair at the victim and bit him on the right hand. The victim said that Robinson also hit him on the back of the head with an aluminum pipe and kicked him in the stomach. When the victim’s friend tried to break up the fight, the suspect bopped the friend in the nose with the pipe, police said. Robinson was charged with first- and second-degree felony assault.
Motorcycle theft
A man who parked his 2010 black Ducati motorcycle in front of 510 Broome St. near Thompson St. at 7 p.m. Thurs., April 7, returned at 10 p.m. and discovered that his bike, valued at $15,000, had been stolen, police said.
Albert Amateau
