An unnoticed murder, Cont.

Since New York Press first detailed Fausto Lachapelle's murder some issues ago, new information has come to light.

Luis Eugenio was convicted of burglary in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. As a second-time felon, he received a relatively light sentence of 13 years' imprisonment, which translates to five years in jail.

The prosecution had no cause to seek a sterner penalty. The man he murdered this January, Fausto Lachapelle, 26, was a drug hustler.

In his deposition Eugenio claimed he was looking to buy drugs for a client, and that Lachapelle, whom he knew as "Jay," promised to come up with $9,000 worth of ecstasy later in the day. Eugenio went to his apartment in Sugar Hill to wait for Lachapelle's call. At midnight Lachapelle rang and instructed him to come to the corner of 161st St. and Fort Washington Ave. Eugenio states that he brought his client and one other man up to Washington Heights.

Four men greeted him, all of whom-except for Lachapelle-were masked. According to Eugenio, Lachapelle tried to coax him into an apartment at 38 Fort Washington, but Eugenio insisted the transaction take place in the open. They settled on the building's decrepit back alley.

Edwin Rosario, a long-time acquaintance of Lachapelle, says he, Juan Perez and Lucas Soriano had all pledged to back up their boy. Lachapelle had been picked up for selling phony ecstasy tablets in the past, and Rosario had a previous conviction for burglary. Rosario's job was to hand off a plastic bag they'd stuff with trash, take the money and run. Soriano was looking out for police and Perez at Lachapelle's side to watch out for him if things went wrong.

They quickly did. Rosario pointed a gun at Eugenio's client, so Eugenio drew his gun and fired two shots at Lachapelle, hitting him once in the torso. Rosario, Soriano and Perez left Lachapelle for dead and flew home.

Eugenio reports that he then hailed a cab back to Sugar Hill. In his deposition he wrote: "After leaving the scene I got home said a prayer and lit a candle and went to sleep."

A resident at 38 Fort Washington reported hearing Lachapelle cry for his mother, and 45 minutes later EMS arrived.

Eugenio received a call from a friend the next morning telling him that Lachapelle was dead. He took the subway to the Bronx and tossed the murder weapon into the Long Island Sound.

Five days later the police pounded on Eugenio's door. They had traced tear drops and finger prints found on Lachapelle's clothing to Lucas Soriano. Police ordered Soriano to identify Lachapelle's killer from a stack of mug shots: He pointed out Eugenio, whom he knew as "Tank." Eugenio was taken to the precinct, where he fell asleep. He was awoken at 3 am and offered a written statement attesting that he saw Lachapelle reach for a weapon, so he drew and fired. The police woke him again at 3:45 am and demanded that he amend his statement. This time he wrote: "Now with some time to think, I['m] not 100% sure Jay had a firearm. When the robbery was going down he reach[ed] as if he had a weapon and I fired."

Lachapelle's sister, Yaneyra Lachapelle, also says that her brother didn't carry a weapon. According to her, "it was an execution. All his friends just left and left him there to die. Now that it's done everyone's washing their hands of it." Juan Perez pled guilty to burglary in the second degree, and was sentenced to six months behind bars plus five years probation; Edwin Rosario was tried and found guilty of robbery in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and will be sentenced October 17; and Lucas Soriano, who was tried even though he claims he was promised immunity, has another pretrial court date on September 29. All four men were indicted for burglary and criminal possession of a weapon; all pled not guilty, and all claimed that Lachapelle was the mastermind.

Fast, by the book and disinterested, the police closed the case with a careless signature over the seal: they misspelled the dead man's last name on his death certificate, and Eugenio got away with murder.

-Emily Schmall