Prosecutors said Tuesday that the woman accused of fatally pushing an 87-year-old New York City voice coach removed her wedding webpage and fled to her parents’ home after the alleged assault, apparently to escape authorities.
Lauren Pazienza, 26, is also accused of deleting her social media accounts and ceasing to use her cellphone, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Justin McNabney in a statement.
According to McNabney, Pazienza decided to surrender to authorities after an anonymous caller notified authorities to her specific place. She was charged with first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault in the March 10 incident that killed Barbara Maier Gustern.
Gustern, who later died, told officers that the person finally identified as Pazienza approached her near West 28th Street and 8th Avenue and called her an expletive prior to actually forcibly pushing her to the ground, according to McNabney.
McNabney stated that the incident happened without provocation. More information about a possible motive was not immediately available.
According to McNabney, surveillance footage shows Pazienza fleeing the scene while Gustern was bleeding. Pazienza was seen on video nearby in a physical altercation with a person believed to be her fiancé, and she was later seen observing an ambulance come to the location in which she is accused of pushing Gustern, according to McNabney.
She and her fiancé, who were set to marry in June, were then recorded on video departing Manhattan via Penn Station, according to McNabney.
Pazienza is accused of escaping her Queens home and going to her parents’ house, where she deleted her social media profiles and her wedding webpage.
“From that point on, the defendant has made every effort to avoid apprehension,” McNabney said in the statement. “She even took down her wedding web site, despite that fact that she is scheduled to be married in June of this year.”
McNabney said investigators knocked on the parents’ front door Monday after the tipster contacted investigators.
According to McNabney, after Pazienza’s father informed police that she was not present, her private attorney got in touch authorities and arranged for her surrender.
According to her attorney Arthur Aidala, Judge Michael Gaffey decided to order Pazienza to have a medical exam and a mental health assessment after seeing her in “pain” and “crying.”
According to her lawyer, the judge set Paziena’s bail at $500,000, which she is expected to post.
Woman charged in death of Broadway vocal coach Barbara Maier Gustern released on bail
Source: NBC
