NOTORIOUS MURDERS > TIMELESS CLASSICS

A Death Bed Accusation

By Kristal Hawkins

Jobs And Dating: No Walk In The Park

After finding each other through Local-Hookupz.com, Aponte and Dennis chatted a little using AOL's Instant Messenger. They definitely met once in person, according to police. Rumors that the two met multiple times or dated have been reported, but are unsubstantiated. Either way, Aponte wasn't interested in pursuing anything further with Dennis, and it reportedly enraged him.

She described him to her roommate, Carbet Tapia, 24, as an annoying, pushy guy. She called him a crackhead, but it's not clear whether Aponte meant this literally, thinking Dennis had a drug problem, or if she was just telling her roommate that he seemed a little off. According to friends and family, Aponte didn't appear worried about her persistent suitor, though she did tell them he'd threatened her.

On Monday, May 11, 2009, Dennis followed Aponte to a job fair near St. Mary's Park, the large, leafy park in the South Bronx's lower-income Mott Haven neighborhood. She had told him she was going there. Whether she was being too nice, or he just wasn't taking "no" for an answer, Dennis wouldn't give up. She may have thought her job fair appointment got him off her back for at least a little while—but in fact it told him when and where to find her.

When Dennis got to the park, Aponte was talking to a group of men and women outside the job fair site. Dennis was enraged.

"Isn't this lovely?" He sneered, "What's this? Some kind of double date?"

Then he stormed off. But he came back to the job fair the next day with a knife.

• Print version
• Email this
• 

1. A Death Bed Accusation
2. Jobs And Dating: No Walk In The Park
3. An Easy Case
4. Sources