Teaneck, NJ: Suspect in Teaneck stabbing death pulled off flight to Colombia, police say

Authorities pulled a Teaneck murder suspect off a Colombia-bound flight just minutes before takeoff Tuesday night, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said.


Pedro Gutierrez, 24, of New Milford, was on board a plane at the Orlando airport that was headed to Bogota, Colombia Tuesday evening when customs agents took him into custody, Molinelli said Wednesday morning.

“It was minutes away from takeoff,” he said.

Authorities found out Gutierrez was headed out of the country after Port Authority Police found his name on a flight manifest out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and tracked him to Orlando. He bought a ticket for an Orlando-bound Jet Blue flight with cash and checked no bags, Molinelli said.

After Guittierez was taken off the flight, he was charged with murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Molinelli said. Prosecutor’s office detectives are in Orlando Wednesday as authorities await word on whether he will waive extradition back to Bergen County.

Investigators found his car in a JFK parking lot and tracked him to the flight bound to Colombia, where he and the victim, Shaday Betancourt, were from. The couple was estranged when the killing occurred.

Betancourt’s younger brother found her body in her East Forest Avenue home about 12:25 p.m. Tuesday.

“He literally picked her up and put her in his car and drove her to the hospital,” Molinelli said.

The brother brought Betancourt, 23, to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. She had been stabbed to death.

Neighbors said they were unnerved to learn of the murder.

“They’ve been here forever,” said one neighbor, Jason Green. “I’m stunned like everyone else. They are very good people.”

The prosecutor’s office has not recovered a weapon, but search warrants in New York and New Jersey have been issued, Molinelli said.

Molinelli lauded the work of the Port Authority Police Department in leading to the arrest.

“He has a green card with a Colombian passport,” Molinelli said. “He could have easily left the country.”