A man already in prison for killing an ex-girlfriend has now additionally been charged with the murder nearly 13 years ago of well-known transgender performer Lorelise Escalera Ferrer, who was strangled and set on fire, officials said Friday.
Henry Pacheco, 44, was brought to the city from state prison to face murder and arson charges for killing Escalera Ferrer, 25, known by her stage name, Lorena Xtravaganza, on May 12, 2012, in her apartment on Furman Ave. near Bushwick Ave. in Bushwick.
Pacheco had long been a suspect in the case, as The News previously reported, but there was not enough evidence to charge him.
Prosecutors and the NYPD Cold Case Squad since uncovered that Pacheco called Escalera multiple times the night of her murder. Pacheco also admitted last year he was the man caught on security video entering her building and leaving as smoke filtered from her third-floor apartment.
Chillingly, Pacheco had Escalera’s phone and answered it after she was already declared dead, prosecutors said. One caller recognized Pacheco’s voice on the other end.
The charges were also backed up by unspecified forensic evidence, prosecutors said.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said he hoped the arrest 13 years later would bring solace to Escalera’s friends and family.
“Ms. Escalera came to Brooklyn to pursue her dreams of becoming a performer, but her life was brutally snuffed out instead when she was only 25,” Gonzalez said.
“The quest for justice lasted over a decade but today we are able to charge her alleged killer, who we’ll now seek to hold fully responsible for this killing and the arson that put many other lives at risk.”
Pacheco was brought from the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn Heights Friday to his arraignment at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. He was initially charged with murder, arson and petit larceny, police said.
He hung his head as three detectives walked him out of the precinct. He wore a green skull cap, glasses, a beige prison uniform with a white button-down shirt underneath, and black lace-up boots.
His hands were cuffed behind his back and his ankles were chained together. Reporters yelled questions but he never looked up.
“Let this indictment send a clear message to those living in fear for who they are: Public safety does not discriminate, and every New Yorker deserves to feel safe at home,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
On the day of her murder, Escalera, neighbors said, had just returned from a trip to Puerto Rico when her apartment became immersed in flame.
According to prosecutors, just after midnight, Pacheco allegedly called her repeatedly. About 2:20 a.m., security video captured him entering her building.
He was seen on the camera leaving about an hour later, with smoke visible in the background, prosecutors said. By 4 a.m., the flames and smoke had engulfed the building, staining its stone exterior black with soot.
Eduardo Leonardo, a neighbor, bravely went onto the burning floor and saved a mother and her baby son, but could not reach Escalera’s apartment, The News previously reported.
Escalera Ferrer was found dead at the scene. The Medical Examiner initially concluded she died of “homicidal violence of an undetermined type,” while an investigation by FDNY fire marshals showed the blaze started in her bedroom.
Residents, not imagining it was arson, initially speculated the fire was caused by electrical wiring.
“She’s a showgirl,” relative Robert Rodriguez said at the time. “She’s beautiful, sexy, gorgeous. She’s done photo shoots all around the world. Right now, I’m just trying to gather my words, thoughts, everything.”
Pacheco
Pacheco had a long history of violence and theft. In 2019, he was convicted of the 2017 strangulation murder of his ex-girlfriend Brooke Garcia, 27, with a scarf. She was found dead in her aunt’s apartment in Alphabet City in the Lillian Wald Houses on Avenue D near E. Houston St.
A friend followed blood drops to the bedroom and found Garcia’s body with the scarf still wrapped around her neck. Surveillance video later showed Pacheco entering the building with Garcia and later leaving alone.
Pacheco was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, and most recently has been serving time at Wende Correction Facility outside Buffalo, where disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein served time.
A few days before killing Garcia, Pacheco was arrested for breaking the jaw of a pregnant girlfriend, 38, during an argument over his stealing cash and her 7-year-old son’s PlayStation, The News reported.
At the time, he had 26 prior arrests and had done time for attempted burglary before his release from prison around nine months earlier, police said.
Pacheco was ordered held without bail on Rikers Island. He is slated to return to court on Feb. 19.
Thomas Tracy and Rocco Parascandola contributed to this story.
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