Roosevelt man pleads guilty to killing ex-girlfriend in front of their toddler son after protection order expired

A Roosevelt man pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend more than 30 times in front of their two-year-old son after an order of protection against him expired, authorities said.

Jose William Funes-Zabala, 44, admitted to murdering Brenda Guadoloupe Alfaro Alcantara, 29, of Hempstead, in her basement apartment after he learned, during an argument, that she "had started dating," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a news release.

Around 5:58 p.m. on Oct. 5, 2024 — one day after an order of protection issued on behalf of Alfaro Alcantara expired — Funes-Zabala arrived at her Botsfort Street home to visit their son, according to the release. As the argument escalated, Funes-Zabala stabbed his former girlfriend about 35 times in her bedroom with their child present.

About one hour later, Funes-Zabala left the apartment "with what appeared to be blood on his face," the release said. He did not harm his son and left him behind. Relatives later found Alfaro-Alcantara and the child after they could not contact her.

"He acted in a jealous rage," Brian Carmody, Funes-Zabala’s defense attorney, told Newsday in a telephone interview Wednesday evening. "Immediately after the killing, he went home and attempted suicide. Later, when he was brought to the hospital, he confessed in detail to the police and he expressed extreme remorse for the killing."

Members of the Nassau County Police Department Homicide Squad arrested Funes-Zabala at Nassau University Medical Center on Oct. 6, 2024, the district attorney said.

On Wednesday, Funes-Zabala pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Judge Howard Sturim at Nassau County Court in Mineola to second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child, the district attorney’s office said.

"This was a horrific act of violence that stole a woman’s life and the innocence of a young child. Two lives destroyed because of this defendant’s viciousness and his bruised ego," Donnelly said.

Alfaro-Alcantara obtained the order of protection in October 2023 following "a violent and tumultuous" three-year relationship with Funes-Zabala, during which they lived together in the apartment where he killed her, Newsday previously reported. Funes-Zabala’s violent behavior also included attacks on their son that left him with a fractured femur and skull, police said last year.

Funes-Zabala is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on Dec. 18, according to the district attorney’s office, which recommended Funes-Zabala serve 25-years-to-life in prison. Carmody said Sturim agreed to a 20-year-to-life sentence.