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'Machine of Rage' Killed Girlfriend Then Tried to Blame Muggers, NYPD Says

By  Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | November 4, 2016 9:11am | Updated on November 4, 2016 12:19pm

 Jonathan Sanchez, right, shot Araceles Colon, left, in Macombs Dam Park and tried to blame it on muggers, police said.
Jonathan Sanchez, right, shot Araceles Colon, left, in Macombs Dam Park and tried to blame it on muggers, police said.
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THE BRONX — A man called by his own family "a machine of rage" was arrested for shooting his girlfriend to death near Yankee Stadium, police and family said.

Detectives said he told them she'd been the victim of a robbery Thursday night.

Jonathan Sanchez, 33, who is from Peru, shot Araceles Colon, 45, in the stomach in Macombs Dam Park at East 161st Street and Jerome Avenue about 9:15 p.m. Thursday, NYPD officials and relatives said Friday morning.

Colon, who lived in the neighborhood on Woodycrest Avenue, was pronounced dead at Lincoln Medical Center, police said.

Friends said Colon was religious and had two children, a 25-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter.

"She was peaceful. She lived the word of God. She would go to church. She was a strong person," said Raysa Martinez, 44.

"Who will take care of her daughter now? What is going to happen to her? She loved her daughter. They were always together."

Others painted Colon as a stark contrast to her boyfriend.

"She was really very nice. She was definitely a girl from the street, but she was being nicer to impress the family. There were times she seemed unhappy, but those were rare," said the suspect's brother, Jose Lazo, 25.

"I saw them fight once, but he's good at hiding his problems. My brother could be very charming. He could be very smooth with his words — very charismatic," Lazo said.

Sanchez was arrested at the scene and hit with murder and weapons charges, police said.

He initially tried to blame the deadly shooting on muggers, but later confessed to investigators, police said.

He's been arrested twice before, but those police records are sealed, an NYPD spokesman said.

Sanchez's penchant for violence had stretched across two continents having been a gang member in his native Peru, Lazo said.

"When he arrived [in the United States], my mother tried to make him different and teach him differently, but he went down the wrong path," Lazo said.

"There was one day he got tired of his couch, so he took a machete to it and was raking it. He was gruffing a lot. We just sat out here in the kitchen," the brother said.

Sanchez would sometimes turn his violence toward those he loved, family said.

"One time, he pulled his knife on me. He told his friends to jump me to toughen me up. They [messed] me up pretty good," Lazo said.

"He never pulled a gun on us. He tried to attack me and my father with a pipe once, though," Lazo added.

Still, his mother loved him despite his flaws and broke down at their home when she found out what had happened, family said.

"I hope this shows my mother she can't keep forgiving him. They have to lock him up," Lazo said.

Sanchez's sudden anger was palpable, family said.

"When he'd get angry, his eyes would change. His jaw would clench. You could feel it," Lazo said.

"The slightest argument would turn him into a machine of rage."

Sanchez had calmed recently after dedicating himself to Catholicism about five years ago, family said.

"He'd constantly spout his religious beliefs and watch videos on YouTube," Lazo said.

"I was really rooting for a change. I was really rooting for him to come around."

That serenity, however, was fragile and broke down recently, the brother said.

"I thought something like this would happen. He's gotten a lot more aggressive these last two weeks. He'd talk to himself at 2 or 3 in the morning," Lazo said.

"Nobody deserves to die, not without a very good reason. My brother didn't have the power or authority to make that decision."

He admitted that this might finally stop his brother from hurting people who loved him.

"As much as I love my brother, I hope he pays for it. If he's behind bars for 25 years to life, there's part of me that will be relieved," he said.