A 23-year-old Long Island man has been convicted by a jury in the strangling death of a prostitute he met on Craigslist last year, prosecutors say.
A Suffolk County jury found Chad Johnson guilty of second-degree murder in the March 2010 death of Jennifer Papain, 26, of North Patchogue, District Attorney Thomas Spota announced Monday.
Prosecutors said Johnson strangled Papain when she refused to give him an $80 refund he paid for, but did not complete, in a car in North Bayshore on March 24, 2010.
His defense attorney argued that Papain had died of a drug overdose and that Johnson's confession was fabricated by detectives.
After he was arrested on May 20, 2010, Johnson led police to a wooded area near his home on Expressway Drive North, where he'd buried Papain's body in a shallow grave, said prosecutors.
Johnson faces 25 years to life when he is sentenced Jan. 5. In addition to the murder conviction, he was also found guilty of patronizing a prostitute and aggravated unlicensed driving.
Suffolk prosecutors say Papain's death is unrelated to the investigation into a serial killer believed to be dumping the remains of prostitutes and others off a Long Island beach parkway.
