Man Arraigned in Girlfriend's Fatal Stabbing

A 33-year-old public relations executive arraigned on a murder charge in the stabbing death of his girlfriend attacked her so brutally that her internal organs protruded from one of her wounds, according to the criminal complaint.

The suspect, Raul Barrera, was arraigned Monday on a charge of second-degree murder.

Prosecutors said he stabbed his girlfriend, 23-year-old Sarah Coit, multiple times in her face and torso early Sunday morning. The autopsy also revealed she suffered blunt trauma to the head.

Barrera's attorney, Paul Feinman, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Police responded to the couple's apartment around 2:30 a.m. Sunday after receiving 911 calls reporting screams coming from the Clinton Street address on the Lower East Side.

Police say they found Coit bleeding on the floor of the apartment.

Bystanders described a horror scene as emergency personnel carried her out.

She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police say Coit had called police on one occasion in January to complain of a verbal dispute with Barrera when the couple lived in midtown Manhattan.

Police say Coit is from Greenwich, Conn., and worked as a salesperson in Manhattan; Barrera worked in public relations.

Coit graduated from Greenwich High School in 2005.

The school's headmaster, Chris Winters, said in a statement that there are "few words to express the shock and sadness that is felt with news such as this. We offer our sincerest condolences to her family and friends."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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