An ex-con was charged with murder Wednesday for beating his 79-year-old mother to death inside their Bronx apartment, police said.
Melvin Arias, 57, allegedly killed Francisca Trinidad, 79, late Monday inside the family’s apartment on Grand Concourse near E. 156th St.
Cops responding to a 11:23 p.m. 911 call from a neighbor who said she heard a loud argument found Trinidad dead, police said.
Arias was charged Tuesday night with murder, manslaughter, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. It wasn’t immediately clear what weapon was used in the fatal beating.
The suspect has multiple prior arrests and served two years in state prison, ending in October 1995, for weapon possession, police said. He was awaiting arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court Wednesday.
The apartment next door to Trinidad’s was the site of a grisly murder more than five years ago involving a local gang and an innocent mother. Wendy Martinez, 45, was killed in December 2018 when a gunman rang her doorbell and shot her through the peephole as she looked to see who was there.
Cops suspected the shooter had been targeting her son, Brian Solano, who was on trial for murder. Solano had been charged four years earlier in the shooting death of a brother of a high-ranking Trinitarios gang member.
Martinez’ sister, Leyda Martinez, 48, said Tuesday the family left the building after her sister’s death.
“We all moved out of that place after that,” she said. “Maybe there is something up with that building. I feel sorry for (Trinidad). Hope they find out what happened.”
