Illegal migrant suffocated Syracuse woman, 21, he’d known since childhood on her birthday, buried her body in park: cops
A migrant from Ecuador who entered the US illegally is accused of suffocating a 21-year-old Syracuse woman on her birthday and then burying her body in a shallow grave in an upstate New York park, authorities said.
Jhon Moises Chacaguasay-Ilbis, 21, is charged with killing Joselyn Jhoana Toaquiza, a fellow Ecuadorian, after arranging to meet the victim for her birthday at his Airbnb in Syracuse on June 18, the Post-Standard reported.
The pair, who are believed to have attended elementary school together in Ecuador, were captured on surveillance cameras entering the rental property just before 4:30 pm., cops said.
Just hours later, Chacaguasay-Ilbis allegedly re-emerged with a limp Toaquiza draped across his back — with her arms and legs wrapped around him — before carrying her body to a park opposite the Airbnb.
He allegedly buried her in the shallow grave and then hightailed it on a Greyhound bus back to his residence in Rockland County’s Spring Valley, according to cops.
Toaquiza’s remains weren’t discovered until Saturday after her family reported her missing.
The accused killer was slapped with second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse charges after eventually turning himself in to cops late Tuesday.
He was arraigned Thursday in Syracuse City Court, where he claimed, via a Spanish interpreter, that he had zero recollection of the alleged slaying because he was too drunk.
Chacaguasay-Ilbis was picked up by US Border Patrol agents in January 2023 after illegally crossing the border in El Paso, Texas, a Homeland Security source told The Post.
Because there wasn’t enough space to hold him, he was released into the US without a tracking device.
The victim’s relatives said she had immigrated to the US last year. It wasn’t immediately clear, though, what the young woman’s immigration status was.
Chacaguasay-Ilbis is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center without bail.
He is scheduled to face court again on July 2.
The Post reached out to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office but didn’t hear back Thursday.
News of Chacaguasay-Ilbis’ arrest comes after a Turkish migrant, Sakir Akkan, also 21, was nabbed in Albany last week for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl whom he forced into his car after threatening to beat her with a metal pole.
The suspect was hit with a first-degree rape charge over the May 15 attack.
Akkan had been stopped by US Border Patrol agents on Nov. 5 last year after crossing illegally into San Diego, California, sources confirmed.
He too was released due to a lack of bed space and ordered to appear in court next February.
