A New York boyfriend has been indicted for murder for allegedly beating and choking his girlfriend, before throwing her to her death from her sixth-floor apartment because he thought she was cheating.
Danielle Marrano, 37, died last Monday after police found her mangled body at the base of her apartment building on Ocean Promenade in Rockaway Park in Queens.
Her boyfriend Shmuel Levine, 34, was arrested hours after she died and confessed to killing her during a physical fight when he tried to take her phone away to look for evidence of an affair.
Authorities initially believed the dental hygienist had committed suicide by leaping to her death before finding her injuries were not consistent with a fall.
A New York boyfriend has been indicted for murder for allegedly beating and choking his girlfriend, before throwing her to her death from her sixth-floor apartment because he thought she was cheating. Pictured Danielle Marrano
Police were called to the Queens apartment complex at about 2:40 p.m. on October 26 to discover Marrano lying several floors below her apartment window with fatal injuries after an apparent suicide attempt.
She was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where she died six hours later.
The net closed in on her jealous lover – who is 6 foot 1 and 220 pounds – when hospital workers reached out to cops to inform them some of her injuries were inconsistent with a fall.
Levine then allegedly confessed to cops that he killed his girlfriend in a struggle over her cellphone.
Police said Levine ‘viciously’ beat and choked Marrano then threw her from either the window or balcony of the apartment plummeting six floors to her death because he thought she had cheated on him.
The couple, who the victim’s colleagues said had been in a relationship for five years, had gotten into an argument inside her apartment when Levine turned physically violent, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said Levine put Marrano in a chokehold, pulled her hair and beat her during a struggle to take away her cellphone.
Levine told cops they ‘got into an argument about her cheating on me,’ according to the criminal complaint.
‘I told her I couldn’t take it anymore,’ Levine allegedly said.
‘She admitted to cheating on me and so then I said, “Can I see your phone?” She wouldn’t give me the phone and so I forcefully tried to get the phone from her and she fought back.’
Levine then allegedly told cops it was ‘not my intention to put her in a chokehold’ and only did it to get the phone.
‘I put my hands around her because I just wanted to get the phone,’ he said, according to the complaint.
‘I was wrestling with her for the phone. I grabbed her to try and get to the phone and she was kicking me. She was on the floor.’
Danielle Marrano, 37, (pictured) died last Monday after police found her mangled body at the base of her apartment building on Ocean Promenade in Rockaway Park in Queens. Her boyfriend Shmuel Levine, 34, was arrested and confessed to killing her
Authorities initially believed the dental hygienist had committed suicide by leaping to her death before finding her injuries were not consistent with a fall. Pictured Marrano
He told cops the alleged attack only ‘lasted for about a minute.’
‘It was not my intention to put her in a chokehold, it was to get the phone,’ he said, read the complaint.
‘I grabbed the back of her hair because I was desperate to get the phone. Yes, there was a physical altercation to get the phone. I choked her with one arm for two to three seconds and she was screaming “No.”‘
The medical examiner found Marrano suffered at least four skull fractures that contributed to her death, with at least two being inconsistent with a fall.
There was a large dent on a wall inside the apartment, authorities said, and hair matching the victims was also found at the scene.
Sources told New York Daily News Marrano also suffered fractured ribs, a fractured humerus and cuts near her armpits.
Her death was ruled a homicide caused by unnatural blunt force trauma.
Queens DA Melinda Katz said the last moments of the victim’s life were ‘brutal’.
‘This woman’s last moments of life were brutal,’she said in a statement.
‘The defendant allegedly resorted to vicious, physical violence to resolve a quarrel. The defendant has been charged accordingly and is in custody.’
Police had been called to the Queens apartment complex (above) at about 2:40 p.m. on October 26 to discover Marrano lying several floors below her apartment window with fatal injuries
Police said Levine has no prior criminal record and this is his first arrest.
However neighbors told Daily News the 34-year-old once threatened ‘to tear them limb from limb’ in a separate aggressive encounter.
Phillip Melfi, 71, and Mary Melfi, 69, told the outlet the incident occurred around a year ago when Mary confronted him about his car.
‘He had a loud car, like a hot rod, he would run this thing at like four and five in the morning,’ said Phillip.
‘One day my wife confronted him. He got out of the car, he said I’m going to tear you limb from limb.’
‘He was very scary, and after that brief encounter we got very scared,’ said Mary.
Marrano’s devastated mom Karen Marrano paid tribute to her daughter who ‘loved to dance and travel’ after her funeral Monday.
‘My daughter was a beautiful bright shining star,’ she told Daily News.
‘She loved her family and her friends and her brother very much. She loved to dance and travel.’
The victim’s boss Jim Sarji spoke fondly of Marrano saying she was loved by patients at the Brooklyn dental practice where she worked for 15 years.
‘Everybody loved her. All the patients loved her. Even after quarantine, she was very busy and scared to return to the office, but everybody asked for her,’ he told Daily News.
Levine was indicted on a second-degree murder charge by a grand jury and is being held without bail.
He is expected to be arraigned in Queens County next week.
If convicted, Levine faces 25 years to life in prison.