The boyfriend of a 33-year-old woman who was found dead in the driveway of her Waterbury home early Monday morning has been charged with murder as well as other charges and bond has been set at $3.75 million bond, according to Waterbury police.
Police have identified the victim as Nathalie Feliciano, of Waterbury, and they have charged her boyfriend, 33-year-old Luisito Dejesus, with murder, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal use of a firearm, illegally carrying a pistol without a permit and weapons in a motor vehicle.
In the arrest warrant application, it states that Feliciano was found face down in a pool of blood, with black tire marks on her face. She was surrounded by shattered glass.
According to the court documents, in interviews with police Dejesus told multiple stories about Feliciano's death, first telling investigators she accidentally shot herself. He then changed his story and said his handgun went off accidentally, hitting her and shattering the driver side window of the car. Dejesus claimed he tried to help her, but when he realized she was dead he drove off without calling for help.
Dejesus and Feliciano has been dating since November, according to police.
Officers took him into custody in West Hartford Monday afternoon on unrelated robbery charges.
Officers found Nathalie Feliciano dead on Edin Avenue around 1:30 a.m. Monday after a neighbor called 911 and reported that she was lying in the driveway, bleeding. Some witnesses reported hearing arguing, according to police who did not go into detail about the nature of the argument.
Police said Tuesday that the medical examiner determined that she died of a gunshot wound to the head and her death has been ruled a homicide.
The investigation into Feliciano's death led to the search for Dejesus, who police initially said was a person of interest in the homicide.
Feliciano’s family members said the last time they saw her was when she was headed out with Dejesus on Sunday night. According to court documents, family members said that Dejesus was mentally and physically abusive to the victim.
Just hours after her death Nathalie’s family says they got the full picture of what was going on in the 33-year-old mother’s life.
“She left a letter for her mom, “mommy I love you, take care of my son, because I don’t know if I’m gonna be longer living,” and she found the letter in the wallet yesterday. She find the two papers, the letter saying that she gonna be gone because she knew he was gonna kill her," said familyfriend Javier Andujar.
Feliciano's mother says she went with her to try to get a protective order, but her daughter changed her mind.
He was taken into custody after a chase through several towns that ended in West Hartford Monday afternoon and a firearm was discovered, according to police. He was arrested on unrelated charges connected to an armed robbery on Barbour Street in Waterbury on Sunday night, including robbery and assault, police said.
On Tuesday, police said they have an arrest warrant charging Dejesus with murder, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal use of a firearm, illegally carrying a pistol without a permit and weapons in a motor vehicle. They said no one else was involved in the homicide of Feliciano.
Jasmine Rodriguez, Feliciano’s sister-in-law, said Nathalie was a beautiful person with a beautiful soul.
“Nobody could take us out of this grief that we have. We still don’t believe it. It’s just been so surreal. We feel like any moment she’ll come through that door," Rodriguez said.
The robbery Dejesus was charged in happened on Baldwin Street in Waterbury just before 11 p.m. on Sunday.
Police said the passenger in an SUV had a gun and robbed a man who was working on his vehicle and demanded everything in the victim’s pockets.
Local
The victim complied, and the suspect threatened to shoot him, police said. The suspect did not fire the gun, but pistol whipped the victim, got back into his SUV and left, according to police.
