A New Jersey man charged with unintentionally killed a 19-year-old woman during “rough sex” told police he was choking her during intercourse when the teen passed out, NJ.com reported.
Michael T. Gaffney, 21, has been charged with reckless manslaughter in the early Saturday morning death of 19-year-old Francis Victoria Garcia in the back seat of a car parked at the top of a garage in Hackensack, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella told the Daily Voice.
The pair had been attending a party inside a high-rise apartment building earlier that evening, according to the North Jersey Record.
NJ.com reported that the affidavit for probable cause said Gaffney told investigators he and Garcia had been having “rough sex” for about 20 minutes when he put his hands around her neck. At that point, she lost consciousness, he said.
According to the affidavit, Gaffney contacted friends and told them Garcia wasn’t breathing. A friend checked on her and said he thought he felt breath through her nostrils but noted her lips were purple.
Gaffney also told investigators that he and Garcia had not met but knew one another through mutual friends and had communicated via social media. He said they’d made plans to hang out with friends Saturday night, and she picked him up about 4 p.m. He told detectives they went to another friend’s apartment, and at some point went out to the car.
An autopsy said that Garcia died from neck compression by another person, NJ.com reported, and the medical examiner said her blood alcohol content was .256
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[Feature image: Michael T. Gaffney/Bergen County Prosecutor]