The accused killer of a gay Brooklyn teen slain with a bullet to the head before his corpse was set ablaze was held without bail Friday for the gruesome murder just three months earlier.
Defendant Isiah Baez, 19, stood with his head down during a brief court hearing where the suspect was locked up for killing Deandre Matthews following his arrest on an unrelated incident.
“I’m happy there was no bail,” said Danielle Matthews, the heartbroken mother of the 19-year-old victim. “I hope he rots in jail. I feel that justice has been served.”
Baez was charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon, concealment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence in the killing where the victim’s family believes Deandre was targeted over his sexual orientation.
“It was a senseless murder,” said the dead teen’s grandmother Jacquelyn Smallwood, one of several relatives at the hearing.
Prosecutors said in court papers that witnesses recounted Baez stating “in sum and substance that (he) shot and killed Deandre Matthews” after the 4 a.m. slaying on February 7.
Assistant District Attorney Aaron Gauthier called for the defendant’s imprisonment, detailing how the charred remains of the victim were found by a freight train operator lying by side of the train tracks.
A jacket was duct-taped around Deandre’s head in an effort to hide the gunshot wound, he said.
“The defendant and the decedent were acquainted for at least one year, said Gauthier. “The decedent borrowed his mother’s car, went out for the evening of February 6, and never returned home.”
Daniel Matthews filed a missing persons report when her son failed to return home, and used a tracking device to locate her burned-out SUV in Crown Heights, several miles from the site where the corpse was discovered.
The suspect’s mother told the Daily News she was skeptical the killing had anything to do with the killing of Matthews, adding their family included gay relatives.
The NYPD has yet to…
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