It took a Manhattan jury less than two hours Friday to convict a deaf Harlem man of murder for stabbing his deaf girlfriend 38 times then stuffing her corpse into the bottom of a 55 gallon drum.
After a gruesome month-long trial, jurors deliberated for an hour and half before finding Bismark Lithgow, 26, guilty of killing Francis Pellerano Feb 28 of 2013.
Lithgow became increasingly controlling after Pellerano moved into his Harlem apartment he shared with his grandmother, and accused her of cheating, prosecutor Ryan Hayward argued at trial.
As revenge for the perceived betrayal, Lithgow viciously butchered the petite brunette, wrapped her tiny body into a sheet then stuffed it into the bottom of the blue drum.
Pellerano’s corpse festered in his room for two days until his grandmother discovered the drum’s sickening contents.
The defense conceded that Lithgow committed the heinous crime but argued he was in a state of extreme emotional disturbance caused by a frigid mother and brain damage from a childhood illness.
He’s expected to be sentenced April 1st and faces up to life in prison.
“Francis Pellerano was brutally murdered at the hands of this defendant,” said District Attorney Cy Vance. “Bismark Lithgow planned Ms. Pellerano’s death and later attempted to disguise his actions, showing no regard for human life.”