QUEENS — A homeless man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for bludgeoning another man to death with a rock in Forest Park last year, the Queens District Attorney announced this week.
Zoltan Forai, 45, also known as Steven Forai, also received five years of post-release supervision during his sentencing Thursday.
Authorities said that Forai, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter on June 30, knew his victim, 23-year-old Flushing resident Diego Piedrahita, since the two frequented the park.
Piedrahita was found dead near Park Lane South and Woodhaven Boulevard by two parkgoers on June 10, 2015, officials said.
Some time between June 8 and 9, 2015, Forai kicked Piedrahita repeatedly in the head and other parts of his body and then hit him multiple times in the face and head with a rock, causing multiple fractures, according to prosecutors.
“By his actions, the defendant showed a total disregard for human life," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
Forai was spotted by police officers patrolling the area on June 19, 2015. He was drinking beer on the corner of Woodhaven Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue near the park's Victory Field, less than half a mile from where the body was found, authorities said.
Forai, who after attacking Piedrahita had shaved his beard, was initially arrested for drinking in public and then re-arrested hours later in connection with the Forest Park murder, according to Brown.
