Lopez was arrested and charged with the murder of Polanco-Ramos less than a week after her body was found. He was taken into custody in North Jersey.
David Lopez
TRENTON — A city man admitted in court today that he strangled his girlfriend, whose body was found partially clothed inside a trash container near her house in May 2011.
David Lopez, 29, who spoke in court with the assistance of a translator, said he and Gladiz Polanco-Ramos had gotten into a fight and she began to pull his hair, so he put his hands around her neck, strangling her until she fell to the ground inside her Roebling Avenue house.
“She wasn’t letting go of my hair,” Lopez said. “She wasn’t going to let me go. I put my hands on her neck and I felt that she went down.”
Lopez was arrested and charged with the murder of Polanco-Ramos less than a week after her body was found. He was taken into custody in North Jersey.
Lopez, who pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated manslaughter as part of an agreement with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office to resolve the case against him, did not admit to putting Polanco-Ramos’ body in the trash container where it was found.
When asked what he did after she fell to the ground unconscious in the kitchen, Lopez said he left the house to go to a friend. “I really didn’t mean to do this,” Lopez said, addressing his comments to Polanco-Ramos’ family members in the courtroom. “I can assure you, here in front of God, that I didn’t mean to do this. I want to ask forgiveness.”
The plea agreement calls for Lopez to serve 22 years in prison. Judge Mark Fleming said that he is “certain” Lopez will be deported after he is finished serving his sentence in this case because he was in the country illegally. Prosecutors did not have information regarding Lopez’ country of origin.
“It will be very unlikely that you could ever lawfully enter this country or apply for citizenship,” Fleming said.
“I am guilty because I did the death,” Lopez said.
Lopez is scheduled to be sentenced on April 26.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.