NEW YORK — The individual who was a member of a gang and was found guilty of causing the fatal stabbing in the tragic 2018 killing of 15-year-old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz has passed away while incarcerated at a correctional facility in New York.
Jonaiki Martinez-Estrella, aged 31, was discovered deceased at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility, as reported on the website of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The specific reason for his death has not been promptly disclosed.
In May, a Justice from the Bronx Supreme Court reassessed Martinez-Estrella’s sentence to 25 years to life behind bars for the crime involving Guzman-Feliz. By March 2023, the Court of Appeals annulled the defendant’s initial first-degree murder conviction, which had resulted in a life sentence without any chance of release. The individual, Martinez-Estrella, continued to be convicted on charges of second-degree murder, as well as participating in a conspiracy and gang assault.
Thirteen other defendants who had a role in the deadly 2018 attack are being held accountable for their actions and remain in prison serving their respective sentences, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said.
On June 20, 2018, Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz was mistakenly targeted as a rival gang member by a group of 14 men, all believed to be members of the Trinitarios gang.
Authorities were called for reports of an assault in progress around 11:40 p.m. that day, at a bodega on East 183rd and Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx. When they arrived, witnesses told them there had been a fight in front of the store that resulted in the 15-year-old getting slashed in the neck with a machete.
Officials say Junior then ran to St. Barnabas Hospital, located just a block away, but he collapsed on the sidewalk. His dying words, investigators said, were that he needed some water.
He lived one block from the bodega and was known in the neighborhood as Junior. Investigators say he told his mother he was heading downstairs to repay $5 to a friend, but instead he ended up involved in some type of dispute.
Relatives hugged and cried at the scene the day after the slashing, desperate to understand how and why such a thing could happen. They described him as a typical teenager.
“All I can say was that he was a good kid,” sister Genesis Collado-Feliz said. “He just played PlayStation. He played Fortnite. He played 2K, like every 15-year-old. He asked me for advice with girls.”
The stabbing of Junior stunned the city with its sickening depravity, and launched an international social media movement under the hashtag #justiceforjunior that sought justice for the teen.
Emotional vigils have been held in the years following the boy’s death.
Last November, members of the NYPD released balloons to honor Junior six years after the deadly attack. Guzman was a member of the NYPD’s Explorer Program.
The NYPD released balloons in honor of murder victim Junior Guzman.
In 2019, Junior’s mother, Leandra Guzman, laid flowers down at the spot where her son begged for his life. Standing there, she said, just made her think about how much he suffered.
“I feel the same day, it’s nothing passing for me,” she said. “I don’t feel like any years gone on. I don’t feel that. I feel like I’m in the first day,” she said in 2019.
Justice would eventually come, but as then-NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said four years ago, “I don’t think the family will ever recover in a case like this. It never ends for victims.”
Five gang members were convicted. One man sentenced to life in prison without parole and the other four serve 20-plus years to life.
Martinez-Estrella, who delivered the fatal blow by stabbing Junior in the neck, was initially sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors said that he was not remorseful and that, in fact, a correction officer found him with a one-inch sharp object in his shoe on the way to court that morning.
In court, he told the judge, “I’m sorry” and “My intention was not to cause death,” blaming drugs, alcohol, and allegiance to the Trinitarios gang.
Antonio Rodriguez Hernandez Santiago, Jose Muniz, and Elvin Garcia were all sentenced to 25 years to life, while Manuel Rivera was sentenced to 23 years to life because of his age at the time of the crime.
Junior’s parents delivered powerful impact statements to the men who took away their pride and joy.
“They killed an innocent child,” Junior’s mother said. “Of all these men, not a single one of them said, ‘No, no, don’t do it.’ That night, there were two deaths, Junior and I, who was left dead inside. As a young boy, my son dreamed of becoming a detective, so he could protect this city…Please make sure my son’s dreams come true. These killers should never be able to step out of a jail cell, so they know the moment they killed my son, they took their own lives as well.”
Junior’s mom has since lobbied for putting panic buttons in bodegas. A free camp was also opened up in after Junior’s murder in his honor.
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