A former English teacher faces 25 years to the rest of his life in prison after a Staten Island, New York jury found him guilty on Monday of murdering his wife.
It took the jury just two and a half hours to convict 33-year-old Jonathan Crupi in the 2012 stabbing death of his wife, 29-year-old Simeonette Mapes-Crupi.
During the trial, prosecutors said that Crupi pushed his wife down the stairs and stabbed her 15 times after she confronted him about sleeping with prostitutes.
Caught: Crupi allegedly murder his wife after she confronted him about sleeping with prostitutes
As the verdict was read in court on Monday, the victim’s parents were overcome with emotion as they saw justice served for their daughter.
‘We knew it from day 3 [after Simeonette was killed] and it’s just so sad that we had to go through all this for so long for something we already knew,’ the victim’s father, John Mapes, told the State Island Advance.
John’s wife Theresa sobbed in court, leaning her head on her husband’s shoulder, in the moments before the verdict was read on Monday.
Outside the court, she teared up as she embraced the prosecutor on the case.
‘I wish this didn’t have to be. I wish we weren’t celebrating such a horrible thing,’ Mrs Mapes said. ‘My daughter can rest in peace now.’
‘Sissy’s parents have waited three years for the justice system to tell them what they’ve known in their hearts all along, that Jonathan Crupi is guilty of murdering their beloved daughter,’ said Acting Richmond County District Attorney Daniel L. Master, Jr.
Justice: The victim’s parents were in court to hear the verdict on Monday. Above, Mapes-Crupi’s mother Theresa Mapes is embraced by a family member after getting the good news
Justice: The victim’s parents were in court to hear the verdict on Monday. Above, Mapes-Crupi’s mother Theresa Mapes is embraced by a family member after getting the good news
Simeonette Mapes-Crupi was allegedly murdered on July 5, 2012, after confronting her husband, who she worked with at the School for Classics in Brooklyn, for sleeping with prostitutes – just two weeks before what would have been their fifth wedding anniversary.
The fight turned violent when her husband pushed her down the stairs of their New Springville home, and then got a knife and stabbed her 15 times.
While there were no witnesses to the event – and no murder weapon ever recovered – the prosecution was able to win the case by showing the jury circumstantial evidence of the murder, such as Crupi’s Google searches of ‘how to throat slash’ and ‘what destroys DNA’.
It’s believed that Crupi then ransacked the house to make it look like there had been a home invasion, and left to run errands before meeting up with one of his favorite hookers to have sex.
After the rendezvous, Crupi returned home and called 911, pretending to be shocked at finding his wife’s body stabbed to death.
Crupi will be sentenced on August 11 and faces 25 years to life in prison