Man jailed for life after he admitted stabbing former model 19 times

RYAN GORMAN

dailymail.co.uk

A Manhattan man who admitted stabbing to death a former model in 2011 has been sentenced to life in prison.

Markeece Dunning, 22, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty earlier this year to first-degree murder for the horrific killing of 42-year-old Jomali Morales that left her with 19 stab wounds in her face neck and back, officials said.

Morales’ butchered body was infamously found covered in blood February 12, 2011 in the elevator of Baruch Houses, a city housing project on the Lower East Side.

Prosecutors contended during today’s sentencing that Dunning planned to rob and rape Morales as soon as he saw her in the hours before she was found dead.

The woman was later found to have been intoxicated at the time of her death, and investigators believe that impaired her judgement enough that she allowed Dunning to convince her to go to his apartment that morning instead of returning home, a source told MailOnline.

Authorities called her ‘the perfect victim.’

Dunning made a false promise to the woman, which he did not tell authorities, and she agreed to go to his home, the source said.

Morales was later found dead, and police arrested the then-19-year-old Dunning one month later.