After a three-week trial, a jury found a 28-year-old man guilty on Friday of murdering an Elmhurst woman in a Queens park more than two years ago.
Christopher Sobers, 28, was convicted of second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of stolen property, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced on Feb. 23. Sobers faces 25 years to life behind bars when he is sentenced on March 14.
Prosecutors said that Sobers brutally murdered Qing Qing Kiemde, 28, inside of Kissena Corridor Park, off the intersection of Colden Street and Laburnum Avenue, on the night of Oct. 10, 2015. A homeless man found her mutilated body the following day.
“The crime scene was seeped in blood and the victim’s body mutilated and disemboweled,” Brown said on Friday.
Detectives learned that Sobers and Kiemde, who resided in Elmhurst, had met at a group meeting and became romantically involved.
When they located Sobers and took him in for questioning, prosecutors said, they found Kiemde’s phone in his possession; Browns said all of her information had been removed from the phone and replaced with Sobers’ data.
Police also learned that Sobers had been seen carrying Kiemde’s handbag soon after her murder.
“After thoroughly reviewing the evidence, the jury found the defendant guilty and he now faces a very long term of incarceration — to protect others from harm and to punish him for this heinous crime,” Brown added.
Initial reports indicated that Sobers resided in Brooklyn, but prosecutors noted that Sobers lived in Queens at the time when the crime occurred.
