By Bianca Fortis
A Lower East Side resident has been convicted of brutally strangling to death a transgender woman in her Glendale apartment in 2010, attempting to hide evidence of the murder and stealing the woman’s belongings, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said last week.
After a four-week jury trial in Queens Supreme Court, Rasheen Everett, 32, of 65 Jefferson St. in Manhattan, was convicted Friday of second-degree murder, burglary and tampering with physical evidence, according to Brown.
According to testimony heard at the trial, Everett entered the apartment of Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar, on 62nd Street in Glendale, at about 8:50 a.m. March 27, 2010. Several minutes afterward, witnesses heard screams and loud banging consistent with a struggle, Brown said. The two were believed to be alone.
Approximately 18 hours later, at about 3 a.m. March 28, Everett then left the apartment, alone, carrying two bags that contained Gonzalez-Andujar’s camera, keys, laptop, suitcase, coat and cellphone, according to Brown.
Then on March 30 at about 4 p.m., Gonzalez-Andujar’s family members entered the apartment and found the victim’s body on a bed covered in bleach in an attempt to hide evidence of the murder, according to Brown.
A medical examiner determined that the cause of death was manual neck compression, or strangulation.
Everett left for Las Vegas immediately after the incident. Las Vegas police caught up with him there and arrested him April 9, 2010, Brown said.
Police brought Everett back to New York later that month and he has been held without bail since his arrest.
“The defendant stands convicted of violently taking the life of another human being in her own home and then tampering with the body in an attempt to escape justice,” the district attorney said in a statement. “Such a vicious act of violence demonstrates that this defendant is a threat to society and deserving of a lengthy prison sentence.”
Everett is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 5. He faces up to 40 years to life in prison.
Reach reporter Bianca Fortis by email at bfortis@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
