Chelsea

Man Charged With Manslaughter in Beating Death of His Chelsea Roommate

Alexis Antonio Yanes-Majano was able to speak to officers and said someone had hit him, prosecutors said, but he died soon after being taken to a local hospital

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A man has been charged with beating his roommate to death this weekend in Chelsea, Massachusetts, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Bartolo Cruz Cosigua Gonzalez, a 44-year-old from Chelsea, was arrested Monday on a manslaughter charge in the killing that prosecutors say took place Saturday.

Chelsea police officers found Gonzalez' roommate, 25-year-old Alexis Antonio Yanes-Majano, lying on the street outside an apartment on Pearl Street after a 911 call about 11 a.m., according to Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins' office.

Yanes-Majano was able to speak to officers and said someone had hit him, prosecutors said, but he died soon after being taken to Cambridge Health Alliance – Everett Hospital. Among his injuries was a ruptured spleen.

Officers found Gonzalez inside the apartment he shared with Yanes-Majano, along with blood in Yanes-Majano's bedroom, according to prosecutors.

On Monday, Gonzalez was identified as a suspect in the killing, after an investigation that incorporated surveillance video footage and interviews, prosecutors said. He turned himself in to Chelsea police.

At his arraignment hearing on Tuesday, District Court Judge Jane Prince set Gonzalez' bail at $100,000, with house arrest and other conditions. People accused of crimes in Massachusetts are generally initially presumed to be innocent.

Rollins urged people living with domestic violence to seek help from her office's victim witness advocates, who can be reached at the general office number, 617-619-4000.

“We want survivors and community members to know that my office and our partners in law enforcement are here to help,” Rollins said in a statement.

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