A Bronx man who worked as a dance captain for the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for strangling his boyfriend to death in Morris Heights.
Marcus Bellamy, 35, killed Bernardo Almonte, 27, in August 2016 inside the West 174th Street apartment they shared. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter last month, thus avoiding a possible life sentence.
“The defendant killed his boyfriend, whom he had been in a relationship with for several months,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said Tuesday. “We hope today’s sentence brings some peace to the victim’s family.”
The Broadway dancer beat and choked Almonte before confessing to the killing on Facebook.
“Forgive me,” Bellamy wrote. “I did it because I love you. I love you all. I loved him also. He told me love and hate are the same emotion. Forgive me. I know not what I do. I did it for love. For god [sic]. On high.”
Almonte suffered injuries to his larynx, fractures to his hyoid bone, and had bite marks in the area between his shoulder and chest, among other injuries.
After his prison sentence is complete, Bellamy will serve five years of post-release supervision, officials said.