By Ben Fractenberg
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER EAST SIDE — A 23-year-old woman was hacked to death in her Lower East Side apartment early Sunday morning in what police said was a domestic dispute.
Sarah Coit's blood-curdling screams and pleas for help filled the building, but would-be rescuers couldn't find her apartment in time to save her, according a neighbor.
"I heard a lot of screaming, panicking, a woman yelling, "Help me, help me," said Joost Bohnen, 33, who is visiting from Holland and staying in the building next door.
"It went on for 20 minutes. People were yelling, 'Where are you? What's your name? What apartment are you in?' After that, it went quiet.
"There were people going door to door, trying to find her."
Coit was eventually found in her living room with multiple stab wounds after police responded to calls of a woman being assaulted at 63 Clinton St. at 2.30 a.m.
Police charged Raul Barrera, 33, who lived with Coit, with murder Sunday afternoon after he turned himself in.
"I did something bad," Berrera told police, the New York Post reported Sunday.
The New York Post reported that Coit, who is originally from Greenwich, Conn., was trying to break up with Barrera.
Berrera was also arrested last year after allegedly assaulting a man, according to the Daily News.
He reportedly worked in public relations for Coleman Entertainment Group.
Coit's LinkedIn page said she was a marketing and advertising student at Hunter College, and was expected to graduate this year. The school did not immediately return calls for comment.
Her father, Lynde Coit, is a financial advisor to the CEO at Plasco Energy Group Inc. who lives with his wife, Anne Taylor, in Greenwich, Conn., the Post reported.
"She was a great young woman," a family friend told the News. "They are wonderful people."
Briana Andalore, 20, arrived at the building as the victim was being brought out.
"She had a cut in her neck from ear to ear," she said.
"It almost looked like she had been decapitated. I was horrified."
Coit was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital where she was pronounced dead, officials said.
