FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Long Island Man Indicted for Strangulation Death of Pregnant Girlfriend Whose Body He Allegedly Discarded Outside Her Red Hook Home
Defendant Allegedly Dragged Victim Out of Car before Driving Off
and Abandoning Couple’s Two-Year-Old Son in Queens
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 25-year-old Long Island man has been arraigned on an indictment in which he is charged with murder for the strangulation death of Tatiana Walton, the defendant’s five months pregnant girlfriend and mother of his two-year-old son. The defendant allegedly dragged the victim from his car and left her body on the street outside her Red Hook home before driving off and abandoning their son on a stranger’s doorstep in Queens.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “The alleged actions of this defendant – who’s charged with killing the pregnant mother of his child and abandoning his son – were truly shocking and appalling. We will never tolerate any type of intimate partner violence in Brooklyn and I am committed to prosecuting such cases vigorously and to hold violent abusers like this defendant responsible.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Kelvin Philp, 25, of Shirley, Long Island. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic on an indictment in which he is charged with second-degree murder and abandonment of a child. The defendant was ordered held without bail and to return to court on April 3, 2020. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top count. He was also arraigned on a second indictment in which he is charged with aggravated criminal contempt and related charges.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on January 29, 2020, at approximately 1:45 a.m., surveillance footage taken near the corner of Lorraine Street and Ostego Street in Red Hook captured the defendant allegedly exiting a dark colored car parked outside the home of Tatiana Walton, 27, in the Red Hook West housing development. The defendant allegedly walked around to the passenger side of the vehicle, dragged the victim out of the vehicle and drove away a few minutes later.
An eyewitness who called 911 on January 29, 2020, at approximately 2:01 a.m., allegedly saw the defendant exiting a dark colored Honda Accord parked in front of the victim’s home and then drive away, leaving the victim on the ground.
Police officers responding to the 911 call found the victim on the ground unconscious and unresponsive. An autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was asphyxiation due to neck compression.
At approximately 2:54 a.m., soon after the alleged murder, surveillance footage from a Ring doorbell camera allegedly captured the defendant leaving his two-year-old son on the doorstep of a stranger’s home on 84th Street near 35th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens.
It is alleged that when the defendant visited the victim on January 29, 2020, he was in violation of a Kings County Family Court order of protection issued for both Tatiana Walton and their son on October 31, 2019.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Elaine Albenda and Senior Assistant District Attorney Ruthie Talansky, of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, under the supervision of Michelle Kaminsky, Domestic Violence Bureau Chief.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.