By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The roommate of a Pace University student who was murdered in 2008 in an off-campus Chelsea apartment testified Monday about discovering her friend's body.
Josephine Madonna, 22, was a sophomore at Pace when her roommate, Kevin Pravia, was choked to death with an electrical cord. Jeromie Cancel, 24, is on trial for Pravia's murder. He admitted in a taped confession to strangling Pravia because he "was bored," and then watching a horror movie next to Pravia's lifeless body.
Madonna recalled returning to the apartment after visiting her Massachusetts hometown in August 2008.
"I walked into the apartment and the deadbolt wasn’t locked," an emotional Madonna recalled in testimony Monday. "I looked in my room and noticed that my jewelry box had been moved."
Madonna then remembered walking into the dark living room to find the DVD menu from a horror movie looping on the television.
As the suspenseful music played, she said she noticed Pravia’s foot sticking out of a blanket on the couch. Soon she realized her friend was dead; she ran into the hallway and called 911, according to her testimony.
Walking out of court on Monday, Madonna, who said she’s since left Pace and is now working as a secretary at a hair salon in Massachusetts, remembered her deceased roommate fondly.
"He was funny, he was kind," she said with a smile. "He was everything."
Cancel faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted. Testimony is expected to resume Monday afternoon.
