'She wanted to be choked': Man charged with killing 19-year-old said he choked her during sex

Anthony Zurita | NorthJersey

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A Maywood man charged with killing a 19-year-old woman said he choked her during sex, court documents show.

Michael Gaffney, 21, was arrested and charged with manslaughter after the death of Francis Victoria Garcia, Prosecutor Mark Musella said in a statement on Saturday.

An affidavit of probable cause showed that Gaffney told a friend that he choked Garcia — which was ultimately determined to be the cause of her death — because he claimed she had requested it during sexual intercourse that took place in her car.

"I choked her. She wanted to be choked," Gaffney said to the friend, according to the affidavit.

Gaffney and Garcia knew each other through mutual friends and had been in contact through social media during the week leading up to Friday, the affidavit said.

At about 5 p.m. on Friday, Garcia picked up Gaffney in her car, with their mutual friends in the back seat, and went to another friend's apartment on Prospect Avenue in Hackensack, the affidavit said.

Later in the evening, Gaffney and Garcia went to her car to "hang out," the affidavit said. Once they got into the car, the two began to have sexual intercourse, in which Gaffney put his hands around Garcia's neck and she subsequently lost consciousness, the affidavit said.

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Gaffney "at some point" got in touch with others in the apartment and told them that Garcia was not breathing, the affidavit said. One friend then went to the parking garage and noticed that Garcia's lips were purple and said he could feel air coming out of her nose, the document said. Police received calls about the incident at about 2:15 a.m. Saturday.

Garcia was then transported to Hackensack University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at about 3 a.m. Saturday.

A medical examiner concluded that Garcia died from compression to her neck area, prompting the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office to advise Hackensack police to charge Gaffney with reckless manslaughter, the document said.

Garcia's blood-alcohol level was 0.256, over three times the legal limit for a 21-year-old, shortly after her death, the affidavit said.

The Prosecutor's Office did not respond to a request for further comment.

Anthony Zurita is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all the major news happening in North Jersey, subscribe here. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

Email: zuritaa@northjersey.com Twitter: @AnthonyRZurita