Bed-Stuy Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Slaying Pregnant Girlfriend

Bed-Stuy Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Slaying Pregnant Girlfriend
The end of Division Avenue, near where Merceda Young’s body was found. (Screenshot via Google Maps)

A Bed-Stuy man was sentenced to 20 years yesterday for stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death in Williamsburg.

Alex Jeffrey, 34, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in July and was sentenced yesterday in a Brooklyn court, according to the District Attorney’s office.

On the evening of October 28, 2013, Jeffrey was seated in his jeep with his girlfriend of three years, 35-year old Merceda Young, when he stabbed her in the body 22 times, according to the investigation. Police sources told the Post that the two were having sex at the time of the murder. At the time, Young was 12 weeks pregnant—which prosecutors said was the motive for the brutal murder.

After stabbing Young to death, Jeffrey drove his car down Divison from where it was parked at Kent Street, reaching the dead-end at the edge of the East River. There, he dumped Young’s body on the side of the road. According to the investigation, Jeffrey also threw the knife, his jacket and some of Young’s possessions into the water. Merceda Young’s body was discovered by a pedestrian the next day.

At the time of the murder, Young with two children—and Jeffrey was married to another woman. When police questioned Young’s 14-year old son, he told them about his mother’s boyfriend, Alex Jeffrey, and the Jeep he drove. The next day, officers arrested Jeffrey at his home in Bed-Stuy.

Alex Jeffrey, 34, was sentenced to 20 years for the killing of Merceda Young (Via District Attorney’s Office)

When questioned, Jeffrey admitted the whole thing to police: yes, he stabbed the victim. Yes, he dumped her body on the side of the road and covered it with a blanket. Yes, he went to work the next morning. He even stopped to get the Jeep detailed at a car wash.

Not only that, prosecutors found he’d used his phone to Google how to remove blood stains. Now, he’ll face two decades behind bars for his crime.

“This defendant brutally stabbed a pregnant woman, robbing her two children of their mother. He has now been held accountable for his actions and will spend many years in prison,” District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

Addressing the court, Merceda Young’s sister, Paulette, told Jeffrey that she wasn’t done with him once he was behind bars. “Every time you’re eligible for parole, I’ll be there to remind the parole board what you did,” she said.

If he isn’t granted early parole, Young won’t be able to see the outside of a jail until 2038.