BRONX MAN CONVICTED OF MURDER AND ATTEMPTED MURDER ON CHRISTMAS DAY 2005 SIX MONTHS AFTER A PAROLE BOARD RELEASED HIM FROM PRISON

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a convicted rapist has been found guilty on new charges of murder and attempted murder for stabbing a 22-year-old woman to death and seriously injuring her father, now 64-years-old, on Christmas Day 2005.

Sheldon Becker, 46, pled guilty to one count of Murder in the 2nd degree in the death of Demaris Lopez, and one count of Attempted Murder in the 2nd degree in the wounding of Hector Lopez. Becker is facing a sentence of 50 years to life imprisonment when he appears before State Supreme Court Justice Megan Tallmer on Tuesday, October 9, 2007 in Part T 22. The judge has indicated that she will impose consecutive sentences of 25 years to life imprisonment for the murder and 25 years imprisonment for the attempted murder. Becker will have to serve at least 50 years before he becomes eligible for parole.

The bloody crimes occurred on Christmas Day 2005 in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx at the victims’ home near the Cross Bronx Expressway. Becker, who was a long time friend of the elder Lopez, was renting a room in the house following his parole from prison in June 2005. He had served nearly 13 years for a rape conviction in Florida. Becker stabbed both victims multiple times with a kitchen knife. The deceased woman’s 7-year-old brother was playing with a Christmas present when he heard Becker struggling with his sister in her bedroom. The young boy ran to his father’s bedroom upstairs to get help. The elder Lopez broke through his daughter’s locked bedroom door and was stabbed when he attempted to aid the young woman who was partially undressed.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Adam Oustatcher of the Major Case / Gang Prosecutions Bureau and Miriam Sanni of the Child Abuse Sex Offense Bureau.