Press Release

QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR MANSLAUGHTER IN STABBING DEATH OF HIS WIFE

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Manuel Villar, 52, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of his 43-year-old wife.  The 2020 incident took place inside their Arverne home.

District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant, who pleaded guilty, is responsible for a brutal act of domestic violence that resulted in the death of his wife and mother of his three children.  He will now serve a lengthy prison sentence imposed by the Court as punishment.”

Villar, of Beach 58 Street in Arverne, Queens, pleaded guilty in July to manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise.  Justice Aloise imposed today’s determinate sentence of 24 years in prison to be followed by five years post release supervision.

According to the charges, said DA Katz, at approximately 1:30 a.m., on September 24, 2020, the defendant confronted his wife, Ivette Villar, with accusations of infidelity then repeatedly stabbed her in the neck and head. Villar left their Arverne home and called 911 hours later, admitting his deeds to the emergency services operator and providing details of his location. When police arrived to arrest the defendant, a knife was recovered from his vehicle.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Timothy Shortt prosecuted the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Antonio Vittiglio both of the District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack and John W. Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Karen Ross, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.