A Long Island man has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he fatally slashed his girlfriend in their home last month.
Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas says 26-year-old Alan Espinoza was indicted on second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon charges.
Espinoza is accused of killing his 24-year-old girlfriend Neyvin "Iveth" Espinal after an argument on June 21. Prosecutors say she died after Espinoza slashed her in the neck.
Police say Espinoza slashed Espinal's throat with a type of razor-blade cutter. The murder weapon was never recovered.
Espinoza pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail during a court appearance Wednesday. His lawyer, Joseph Lo Piccolo, says his client is planning a vigorous defense.
Police have said the couple was dating a few months and had been living together for about four weeks.
Espinal's employer, Rudis Miranda, was one of the last people to see her alive at the Hempstead restaurant where she waited tables, and recalled seeing her boyfriend come to the restaurant early Saturday morning to take her home after her shift ended.
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"She was right there, looking this way, and he came from behind and hugged her, and then they left," he said.
Miranda said the restaurant co-worker who found Espinal's body called him afterward.
"She said, 'I just found Iveth dead inside the room,'" he said. "I said, 'What are you talking about?' She said, 'She's dead, somebody killed her.'"
Espinal was the mother of a seven-year-old who lives in Honduras. She was sending money back to the country to help support the little girl.
