Riverside Man Admits Killing Girlfriend in Front of Her Daughter

A Riverside man has admitted killing his 45-year-old girlfriend in front of her 9-year-old daughter two years ago.

Bayron Fajardo-Gonzalez pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder in Suffolk County court after a grand jury indicted him for fatally stabbing Tania Fox. He has been held without bail since his arrest.

“This plea will not bring the victim back, nor will it erase the brutal acts her young daughter witnessed,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said. “However, this defendant will now serve an extensive prison sentence and her family and loved ones can hopefully rest a little easier knowing that the defendant has been  brought to justice.” 

Prosecutors said the 34-year-old man, who is not the child’s father, attacked the victim after she had arrived at the couple’s Ludlam Avenue residence with her daughter following an argument shortly after 11 p.m. on August 20, 2020.

The victim and her daughter locked  themselves in the child’s bedroom to avoid Fajardo-Gonzalez, who went outside and broke a window to the child’s bedroom, chasing the mother and child upstairs to a small attic, authorities said.

“If anything happens to me, Bayron is guilty,” Fox told her cousin over the phone, according to investigators. “Please take care of [my  daughter].” 

Fajardo-Gonzalez then found the victim and stabbed Fox multiple times in the chest while her daughter was standing next to her, prosecutors said. The child escaped the attic and called 911, as did a tenant in the residence, as the victim could be heard screaming in the background, authorities said.

Southampton Town Police said responding officers found Fajardo-Gonzalez walking down the stairs from the attic covered in the victim’s blood. He admitted he stabbed Fox, prosecutors said. The victim was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, where she was pronounced dead.

Fajardo-Gonzalez faces up to 20 years to life in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27 before Judge Anthony Senft. His attorney could not be reached for comment.