New York, NY: Raul Barrera killed girlfriend Sarah Coit with butcher knife to back of head, suspect told cops

BY Christina Boyle
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, May 12th 2011, 12:10 PM


Raul Barrera, 33, being walked from the 7th precinct in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
The hot-headed boyfriend accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death on the Lower East Side chillingly described the victim's bloody final moments to cops, according to records released Thursday.

"We were fighting over a butcher knife," Raul Barrera confessed to an officer at Manhattan's 9th Precinct in the early hours of April 10, court papers show. "I hit her in the back. There's a lot of blood."

He told the officer, "She is bad and that's why I'm here to turn myself in."

Barrera explained to officers that he and former Hunter College student Sarah Coit had moved into the Clinton St. apartment together but "there were conflicts" and he returned to collect his belongings on April 10.

The 33-year-old public relations staffer, who arrived in court Thursday for his arraignment with a full beard and crisp white shirt, said their fight quickly "escalated."

"She swung the butcher knife," he said at first, continuing, "I cut her in the back. It's really bad. I don't think she's alive."

Then he described his action after the fatal fight. "I dragged her to the bed from the living room ... I changed my pants and changed my shoes," he added.

Barrera was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday morning after a grand jury indicted him on second-degree murder charges.

His lawyer, Paul Feinman, did not ask for bail and said the victim suffered 12 stab wounds in the savage attack, and did not die immediately.

Feinman also stressed to the judge that his client turned himself in about half an hour after leaving the scene of the crime.

Judge Richard Carruthers set the next court hearing for August 3.

District Attorney Cyrus Vance said the tragic case shows "how quickly a domestic dispute can turn deadly."

"Domestic violence is vastly under reported and constitutes both a criminal justice and a public health crisis," he said in a statement. "I urge victims of domestic abuse to break the cycle of silence."