Goey Charles of Uniondale found guilty in 2020 murder of girlfriend Vanessa Pierre
Vanessa Pierre's body was found in 2020 along the Horace Harding Expressway in Queens. Her boyfriend has been convicted in her murder. Credit: Melissa Pierre
A Uniondale man was convicted Tuesday in the 2020 death of his pregnant girlfriend, who was found strangled and dumped on the side of the Horace Harding Expressway in Bayside, Queens, prosecutors said.
Goey Charles, 33, of Rochelle Court was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Vanessa Pierre, 29, in Queens County Court.
He faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 29 by state Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder.
“We achieved justice for Vanessa," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. "The verdict does not bring her back but it holds her killer accountable. We will be asking the court to send the defendant to prison for a very long time for the brutality and callousness he showed in murdering and abandoning the lifeless body of his girlfriend, the woman who was to be the mother of his child.”
Kevin O'Donnell, Charles' Queens-based attorney, said he would file an appeal but otherwise declined to comment.
Video surveillance footage shows on Oct. 23, 2020, shortly before 3 a.m., Charles was behind the wheel of a white Dodge Challenger that was registered to Pierre and pulled over on the side of the Horace Harding, which parallels the Long Island Expressway, prosecutors said.
More than 30 minutes later, surveillance footage shows Charles exiting the driver's seat and going into the backseat, where his girlfriend was sitting and alive at the time, prosecutors said.
At 4:36 a.m., Charles can be seen dragging Pierre out of the vehicle and dumping her on the sidewalk, before going back into the car and driving away, authorities said.
Later that morning, an MTA bus driver discovered Pierre on the ground, unresponsive, a pair of gray sweatpants wrapped around her neck, officials said.
Emergency responders arrived on the scene and pronounced her dead.
Pierre was due to give birth three months after she was killed and had chosen the name Egypt for her daughter, according to her sister, Melissa Pierre.
A Uniondale man was convicted Tuesday in the 2020 death of his pregnant girlfriend, who was found strangled and dumped on the side of the Horace Harding Expressway in Bayside, Queens, prosecutors said.
Goey Charles, 33, of Rochelle Court was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Vanessa Pierre, 29, in Queens County Court.
He faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 29 by state Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder.
“We achieved justice for Vanessa," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. "The verdict does not bring her back but it holds her killer accountable. We will be asking the court to send the defendant to prison for a very long time for the brutality and callousness he showed in murdering and abandoning the lifeless body of his girlfriend, the woman who was to be the mother of his child.”
Kevin O'Donnell, Charles' Queens-based attorney, said he would file an appeal but otherwise declined to comment.
Video surveillance footage shows on Oct. 23, 2020, shortly before 3 a.m., Charles was behind the wheel of a white Dodge Challenger that was registered to Pierre and pulled over on the side of the Horace Harding, which parallels the Long Island Expressway, prosecutors said.
More than 30 minutes later, surveillance footage shows Charles exiting the driver's seat and going into the backseat, where his girlfriend was sitting and alive at the time, prosecutors said.
At 4:36 a.m., Charles can be seen dragging Pierre out of the vehicle and dumping her on the sidewalk, before going back into the car and driving away, authorities said.
Later that morning, an MTA bus driver discovered Pierre on the ground, unresponsive, a pair of gray sweatpants wrapped around her neck, officials said.
Emergency responders arrived on the scene and pronounced her dead.
Pierre was due to give birth three months after she was killed and had chosen the name Egypt for her daughter, according to her sister, Melissa Pierre.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
Summer in the Hamptons is just heating up NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano has your look at food, fashion and fun in the Hamptons this summer.
Summer in the Hamptons is just heating up NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano has your look at food, fashion and fun in the Hamptons this summer.