Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Wednesday, Oct. 29, that a Bronx man who allegedly fabricated a story about knife-wielding robbers on mopeds attacking him and his girlfriend on City Island Road has been charged with second-degree murder and additional charges for fatally stabbing her.

 

“The defendant allegedly stabbed his girlfriend and tried to cover it up with a phony story about robbers attacking them,” Clark said. “Video surveillance footage and other evidence refuted his claim. He now faces justice for this vicious crime.”

 

Clark said the defendant, Franklin Batallas, 44, of Westchester Avenue in The Bronx was arraigned Wednesday on second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Alvin Yearwood. He remains in custody by order of the court and is due back in court in January 2026.

 

According to the investigation, on Sept. 17, at around 7.20 p.m., the defendant picked up his girlfriend Anthonella Contreras, 30, from a Manhattan hospital where she worked as a nurse. He allegedly drove to Pelham Bay Park, where he allegedly struck her multiple times in the face and neck with a sharp instrument. He then drove to the City Island Bridge, and then to Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital. Contreras was pronounced dead on arrival. Batallas was treated for a cut on his arm and released.

 

According to the investigation, Batallas allegedly claimed that he pulled over on Rodman’s Neck near the City Island Road traffic circle, and men pulled up on mopeds to rob the couple and attacked them with knives. Surveillance video does not reveal any people on mopeds in the area at the time of the alleged supposed attack. Video footage from the bridge showed the victim’s car pull over on the side of the bridge, where investigators found blood stains. A bracelet owned by the defendant was recovered in the water below.

 

The case is being prosecuted by David Birnbaum, trial counsel of the domestic violence bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Megan Leo of the domestic violence bureau, under the supervision of Agata DiGiovanni, chief of the domestic violence bureau, Simon Folkard, deputy bureau chief of the domestic violence bureau, and under the overall supervision of Adrienne Giunta, deputy chief of the special victims division, and Joseph Muroff, chief of the special victims division.

 

Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Sean Liscoe and Paula Aguero of the 45^th Precinct and Patrick Flatley of the Bronx homicide squad, as well as Police Officers Joseph Barone and Alex Llaurado, of the NYPD harbor unit, scuba team for their work on the investigation, along with the New Rochelle Police Department.

 

The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

The Bronx District Attorney’s domestic violence unit can be reached on (718) 838 6688.

 

Call the NYC 24/7 Domestic Violence Hotline on 1-800-621-4673, or visit the NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence for more information.

 

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.