Inset: Victor Dorantes-Velazquez (Broward County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The apartment complex where Victor Dorantes-Velazquez allegedly killed his longtime friend (Google Maps).
A 77-year-old Florida man blurted out during an elevator ride with neighbors how he strangled his longtime friend to death, saying “I grabbed her by her neck and killed her because she took my wallet and money,” according to police.
Victor Dorantes-Velazquez, of Hallandale Beach, accused his female pal of stealing his wallet, cellphone and car keys before killing her on Saturday, according to a Broward County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
Officers responded to an apartment at 632 NW 1st St., Unit 202, around 6:45 p.m. and allegedly found Dorantes-Velazquez “seated in the living room, in a chair next to a bed where [the victim] was located in the fetal position, unconscious and unresponsive,” the report says.
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The apartment door was partially open when officers arrived, prompting them to announce themselves and enter. Dorantes-Velazquez told police that he had known the woman for years and moved into her residence about five or six months earlier, according to the arrest report.
He claimed that his belongings — including a wallet that contained more than $1,000 in cash — went missing and he accused the woman of taking them, cops wrote. She denied taking the items, but Dorantes-Velazquez “continued to confront” the victim “throughout the day about giving him his property back,” according to the arrest report.
“The victim would laugh at him and say she did not have it,” the report says. “The defendant advised at one point, as he continued asking for his property back, the victim began yelling at him … as she tried to scratch him.”
Dorantes-Velazquez said he “lost his temper” and responded by holding the victim down onto the bed by her shoulders, telling police that he is “much stronger than she was,” according to the arrest report.
Dorantes-Velazquez allegedly grabbed the woman’s throat with his left hand and began squeezing. He claimed that the victim tried to throw herself off the bed to escape, prompting him to start choking her with both hands around her neck, according to police.
“[The victim] began kicking her legs and trying to get away but he continued to squeeze her neck for approximately 10 minutes,” the arrest report says. “The defendant stated when he released his grip from the victim’s neck he did not know if she was dead or not but she was not moving.”
Dorantes-Velazquez allegedly left the apartment and went upstairs to the fourth floor, where he knocked on the door of a neighbor’s unit. He told the resident he “killed his girl” and asked them to call 911, according to the arrest report. Another witness provided police with a similar account, saying the defendant openly admitted what happened while riding in an elevator.
“While inside of the elevator, the defendant openly stated, ‘I grabbed her by her neck and killed her because she took my wallet and money,'” according to the arrest report.
Dorantes-Velazquez was arrested and booked on one count of first-degree murder. He’s being held in Broward County.
The post 77-year-old man calmly blurts out murder confession during elevator ride with neighbors after strangling woman inside his home for 10 minutes: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.
