Jealous suspect ‘high on cocaine’ told cops after ‘murdering lover, 37, and her roommate, 51’ in Manhattan apartment

June 23, 2021- 3:35 p.m.

Kelvin Valdez, 27, of Inwood, is accused of murdering Jaslynn Pena, 37, and her 51-year-old roommate, Belkis Cruz, in a jealous fit of rage at their apartment on Sherman Avenue in Inwood on April 27.

The bodies of the two women were discovered by police when a neighbor noticed blood pooling out from under the apartment door.

Valdez was arrested later that day and appeared in court Tuesday to face an indictment on two counts of first-degree murder. 

The alleged killer, who authorities said had a history of violence toward his girlfriend and was arrested back in 2013 for stabbing a man multiple times with a kitchen knife, pleaded not guilty on both counts. 

Court papers, filed Tuesday and obtained by NY Daily News, showed Valdez confessed on tape to committing the grisly double murder less than 12 hours after his arrest on April 27. 

The 27-year-old allegedly told cops he stabbed the two women because Pena had told him she wanted to leave him.  

‘Jaslynn wanted to leave me,’ Valdez allegedly told detectives at the 34th Precinct station.

‘I stabbed her because she didn’t want to be with me.’ 

Valdez said he first attacked her roommate Cruz before then slashing his girlfriend, documents show. 

‘[Pena] tried to push me away, I took out the knife. I stabbed the lady [Cruz],’ he allegedly recalled. 

‘Jaslynn started screaming for help. She told me to leave, we talked, we started to argue, she told me she didn’t love [me]. I stabbed her, too.’

In the taped confession, Valdez admitted to killing the two women, before trying to clean up after the attack and fleeing down the fire escape. 

‘The other woman tried to tell me to leave. I stabbed the older woman first. I stabbed Jaslynn second. I stabbed both of them,’ Valdez allegedly said.  

‘I went into the bathroom and washed the blood up, I went out the fire escape. I tried to clean up.’ 

Valdez allegedly told investigators he was ‘so angry’ he couldn’t remember how many times he stabbed the man.

His relationship to that alleged victim – known only as Chris – is not known. 

‘We started arguing, he came up to me. He grabbed a chair and hit me with it. I picked up a knife in the kitchen and stabbed him,’ he said, according to Daily News.

‘A kitchen knife. I don’t remember how many times I stabbed him. I was so angry in the moment.’  

Pena and Cruz women had lived together for a number of years, shocked neighbors told Daily News back in April. 

Cruz owned the apartment in Inwood and started renting a room to Pena after the 37-year-old moved out from living with Valdez and the 51-year-old had gone through a divorce. 

Cruz’s brother Vincio Cruz told ABC7 his sister had recently fallen in love and was planning to get married when she was murdered.   

Valdez was ordered to be held without bail Tuesday. He is scheduled to next appear in court in September.