Sunday, June 13, 2010

Queens, NY: Agnes Bermudez's trial for murdering ex-boyfriend and three others with deadly fire begins

By Thomas Zambito
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, June 12th 2010, 4:00 AM
"You're going to pay for this!"

That's what a jealous woman shouted to her ex-boyfriend before splashing him with carpet cleaner and setting him ablaze - killing him and three neighbors, prosecutors say.

As the murder trial of Agnes Bermudez opened Friday, Queens prosecutors described how she raged at her ex, William Salazar, before setting the June 2008 inferno.

"I'm going to kill you!" she fumed, according to prosecutors. "I already know about the girl. You think I'm stupid? You're going to pay for this!"

Prosecutor Jack Warsawsky said one of Salazar's roommates heard Bermudez's rant just before the Middle Village building went up in flames.

And Salazar, 32, managed to tell a friend that Bermudez - who was badly burned, too - threw the flammable solution, Warsawsky said.

In addition to Salazar, three people on the third floor - Heriberto Garcia-Vera, 68; wife, Flor Sandoval, 48; and son, Felipe Garcia-Vera, 20 - were killed.

Bermudez, 50, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Her defense? The victim did it.

Attorney David McGruder said Salazar, a carpet cleaner, set the fire after waking up in the middle of the night in a drunken fury.

"Agnes says, 'You're crazy,' and William says, 'I'm going to show you how crazy I am,'" McGruder told jurors.

At the defense table, Bermudez wept, her face bearing deep scars from 15 surgeries and skin grafts needed to repair burn damage.

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