Lawrence Teen Admitted He Beheaded His Classmate, Associate Testifies
LAWRENCE (CBS) - On Wednesday, an associate of Mathew Borges testified that the Lawrence teen told him that he stabbed and beheaded 16-year-old Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino in 2016.
"He told me that he killed Lee and, um, and cut off his head," Jonathan Miranda told the jury. "He said that he stabbed him."
Miranda admitted to joining other teens in a plot to rob Paulino on the last night he was seen alive. Miranda testified that Borges lured Paulino away from his Lawrence home while the others entered and stole items from his room. Only later, Miranda testified, did he learn from Borges that Paulino was dead.
Defense attorney, Edward Hayden, argued that Miranda and another man who took the stand repeatedly lied to police and lacked detail.
"You told us that Mathew told you that he killed Lee," Hayden told Miranda on cross-examination. "But, you don't know when he told you that. […] You don't know where he told you that."
Jurors also listened to Borges in a recorded police interview from November 29, 2016, a few days before Paulino's dismembered body was found.
In the interview, Borges told police that he and Paulino went to the river to smoke weed on November 18 and he left Paulino there, alive.
"We went to the river to smoke. After that, it was about 6:30. We were still smoking and I left around 6:45," Borges said in the recording.
That was the last time Paulino was seen alive.
"You, yourself, said the other day, this story really doesn't sound too good," Lawrence Police Officer John Heggarty is heard telling Borges in the recording.
