Friday, April 1, 2011

Union City, NJ: Strangled Union City woman recalled as 'outgoing' and 'well-loved'

UNION CITY-- Mourners packed Rivera Funeral Home on Kennedy Boulevard last night to pay their respects to a 29-year-old city woman who was found strangled early Sunday at her Summit Avenue home. "She was so well-loved by people and so outgoing, you can see it by how many people came out here today," said Mariella Rosario, 34, the sister of the dead woman, Marilu Veronica Bohorquez.

Bohorquez was found dead early Sunday morning in her bedroom with a crucifix on her chest, police said. Her boyfriend, Julio Roman-Matos, 29, has been charged in the murder. Roman-Matos strangled her with his bare hands following a domestic dispute, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

"Her life was short, but she got a chance to leave me two beautiful granddaughters," Bohorquez's mother, Edith Carpio-Lopez, said Wednesday. Carpio-Lopez has been given custody of Bohorquez's 1- and 2-year-old daughters. "It was as if she gave me a gift and then left to heaven," Carpio-Lopez said.

Bohorquez's uncle, Walter Carpio, recalled his birthday two years ago. Bohorquez had broken her leg but still danced the night away with a crutch in hand and a cast on her leg, he said."She loved to dance -- those are the little things I will never forget about her," Carpio said.

Bohorquez was born in Manhattan and held two jobs: one as a security guard at Jersey City Medical Center and another as a 911 dispatcher at the Union City Police Department, family members said.

"This is a tragic set of circumstances and we feel for her family and particularly the young children she leaves behind- this really should not have happened," said Police Chief Charles Everett, who also attended the funeral. A memorial has been erected outside the home she shared with her boyfriend and their daughters, at Summit Avenue near 14th Street.

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