Boyfriend Charged In Fatal Stabbing Of College Student
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A 33-year-old man has been arrested in the stabbing death of his girlfriend inside the couple's Manhattan apartment.
At 2:37 a.m., police responded to 63 Clinton Street in the Lower East Side where they found 23-year-old Sarah Coit in the living room with multiple stab wounds to her body. EMS responded and transported the victim to Beth Israel Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
"We were afraid, we didn't know what was happening," one neighbor told CBS 2's Dave Carlin. "There was a lot of commotion."
Crime scene investigators were working into the night at the Lower East Side building where Coit was trapped with her killer, screaming for mercy and help. Those early morning cries now haunt the neighbors.
"Just like, 'stop, stop, don't hurt me,'" neighbor Briana Andalore said.
1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon has the latest details
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Raul Barrera, Coit's live-in boyfriend, was charged with her murder. Barrera turned himself in to police a few hours after the murder.
Police say Coit's throat was slashed so savagely that she was nearly decapitated. Neighbors saw the fatal wound as the body was taken out of the building.
Neighbors said they heard loud arguments with the same voices before, but this time it was so intense that some went out into their hallways to investigate. They said that because the sounds were echoing, it was difficult locating the right apartment.
"'What room are you in, what's your name, where are you,'" witness Yoost Bohnen said. "She didn't react; she continued screaming."
Coit moved to the city from her hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut, living for a while in the Upper East Side.
"Met her mom a couple of times, nice person, nice family," former neighbor Derek Guadalupe said. "It's really sad."
Guadalupe remembered Coit attending Hunter college, where she studied advertising and marketing.
Now, family and friends will remember a young life stolen before graduation and countless other milestones.
Raul Barrera was being held at Manhattan Central Booking Sunday night. He is expected to be arraigned Monday.
