Coroner Testifies in Deaf Teen Murder Case

The autopsy of the deaf teen who was killed by boyfriend in 2013, showed that she was conscious for up to five minutes before she bled out from her 38 stab wounds, Medical Examiner Gregory Vincent testified on Tuesday

From the witness stand Vincent showed the Manhattan jury photos of the body of victim Francis Pellerano, 19,bearing five “incisor wounds” and 33 stab wounds, one of which was two inches deep. Pellerano was found in a bloodstained white shirt with clear holes where the weapon penetrated her, mostly around her chest.

Reports say that the defendant Bismark Lithgow, 26, and Pellerano met online and bonded over their similarities; both were deaf and came from the Dominican Republic. Pellerano moved in with Lithgow in December 2012, but their relationship soured quickly, and by February of the following year she decided to move out. Before she could, Lithgow stabbed her and hid her body in a plastic storage container in her bedroom of the Harlem apartment that they shared.

The body was found by Lithgow’s grandmother on March 3.

Lithgow’s lawyer Afsi Khot has conceded that her client killed the victim, but argies that the action was done in a state of distress caused by bipolar disorder, which Lithgow suffers. If the jury agrees, he could be charged with manslaughter.

The prosecution maintains that Pellerano’s murder was premeditated and methodically planned.