NEW YORK – A Yonkers pastor pleaded guilty this week to the brutal Bronx murder of his ex-wife, whom he ran over and then repeatedly attacked with a machete in front of his grandchildren.
Victor Mateo, 65, will be sentenced in January to 23 years in prison on the charge of manslaughter in the first degree, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
Mateo parked his car in front of Noelia Mateo’s home in Throgs Neck shortly before 7 a.m. on Oct.3, 2019, according to investigators. When she left the home on Ellsworth Avenue to drive two of her grandchildren to school, Mateo ran her over with his car and then ran her over with her own car as the victim tried to hide underneath, investigators said.
When she was on the ground after being run over, Mateo returned to her car to search for a machete, with which he attacked her several times in front of her 11-year-old grandson and 9-year-old granddaughter, the district attorney said.
He then fled the scene in his ex-wife’s vehicle. In a joint effort by US Marshals and Pennsylvania State Police, Mateo was arrested in Hazelton, Pennsylvania days later and extradited to New York.
Mateo was pastor of The Redeemer Christian Congregation Church in The Bronx.
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