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Bronx Man Charged with Murdering East Harlem Great-Grandmother

By DNAinfo Staff on October 27, 2011 7:09am  | Updated on October 27, 2011 3:04pm

Police arrested Gregory Velez, Thursday for the murder of Julia Hernandez.
Police arrested Gregory Velez, Thursday for the murder of Julia Hernandez.
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NYPD

By Olivia Scheck and Jeff Mays

DNAinfo Staff

MANHATTAN — A Bronx man was charged Thursday with brutally killing and robbing an East Harlem great-grandmother in her apartment, police said.

Gregory Velez, 35, was charged with murder and robbery in the death of Julia Hernandez, 73, who was found with her feet bound and a plastic bag over her head on Tuesday night.

A flat screen TV was missing from the victim's apartment at the Wagner Houses on East 120th Street.

Velez, who was picked up in The Bronx at 4 p.m. Wednesday, has a 10-year-old daughter with Hernandez's granddaughter, Jasminda Otero.

Julia Hernandez, known for her love of dancing, was beaten, strangled and suffocated, officials said.

She often took care of the suspect, according to family members.

"The sense of betrayal is beyond belief, especially for Jasminda," said Hernandez' nephew and family spokesman George Sorros. "This is a man who was in the family. He came to the house."

Sorros said the family is especially grateful Velez is off the street because they believe he posed a danger to others.

"[The victim] was a woman who was good to him," he said. "What would he do to someone else?"

Sorros said Hernandez always stuck up for Velez even when his child's mother wanted nothing to do with him.

"My aunt was always the one who told Jasminda to let him see his daughter, that a daughter needs his father," said Sorros. "So why would he do this? What drove him to do this?"

He also said that the family plans to be at every hearing to make sure Velez "never sees freedom again."