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Filed Under:Bismark Lithgow, Francis Pellerano, Irene Cornell, Murder
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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A 26-year-old man has been convicted of second-degree murder for stabbing his girlfriend to death in his Harlem apartment and leaving the body in a barrel.

A jury found Bismark Lithgow guilty Friday in the February 2013 murder of 19-year-old Francis Pellerano.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said Lithgow stabbed Pellerano 38 times and then “callously” left her body in a barrel in his room.

Police found the body three days later when they went to investigate a report of a foul odor.

An attorney for Lithgow argued he was suffering extreme emotional disturbance at the time.

The two met online and moved in together in the city in December 2012.

Two months later, the romance was on the rocks, WCBS 880’s Irene Cornell reported. Lithgow was jealous because he had found Pellerano had been flirting with other men online when he was at work.

Lithgow is expected to be sentenced on April 1.

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