A beloved Bronx cab driver was allegedly stabbed to death by a jealous ex-girlfriend – who sent photos of his bloodied body to his family and left chilling voice messages, the victim’s kin told The Post.
“Papito, I called the ambulance, the police,” accused killer Mirda Degracia allegedly said in a voice message to Reynaldo Luna’s family. “I killed your brother-in-law.”
In other messages, Degracia, who is now charged with killing her ex inside her Bronx apartment on Sunday morning, taunted another ex of Luna’s.
“I told you he was coming back to me. He’s here with me, so who lost here you or me?” she said. “And who won? Look at the proof I sent you that he’s here with me.”
According to Luna’s family, the accused killer’s “proof” is photos of his lifeless body sent from his phone.
“The first photo was sent to Reynaldo’s brother-in-law, Papito, in the DR,” Luna’s niece, Kelly Garces, said Tuesday. “She was sending them to nieces and nephews. She sent it from his phone and her phone.
“She was sending pictures at 3-something in the morning. He was visibly injured. He was bleeding through his mouth,” she said. “She sent three photos from different angles of how she stabbed him.
“No one was able to reach him. She had his phone. He was unable to call for help.”
Luna, 63, was found in the Soundview section of the Bronx with a stab wound to the chest around 9:40 a.m. on Sunday and rushed to Jacobi Hospital Medical Center, where he died, police said.
Degracia, 52, his possessive ex, is charged with murder and manslaughter in his death.
“She was stalking him,” Garces, said Tuesday. “She would come here. She would call him. She would text him. She used to tell him she wanted to kill herself. It was manipulation.
“We didn’t take it seriously. We did not think she would go to that length,” Garces said. “We thought the last time they separated it was over. This was December of last year.”
Luna, a native of the Dominican Republic, was a loving father of three who cherished his family, relatives said.
Garces said he met Degracia in the DR when both “were very young,” but his family never thought the relationship was very serious and in recent years he maintained his own apartment in New York.
She said her uncle broke it off, but Degracia recently began complaining he owed her money.
“That day she was calling him to come to her apartment to settle some debt. I believe it was around $6,000 based on what my mother said,” Garces said. “We were under the impression he was not going.
Earlier that morning Luna stopped by his sister’s apartment, had breakfast and left, promising to return for a big family dinner planned for that evening, Garces said.
“My mother stayed up until 5 in the morning waiting for him,” she said. “She tried to call him but he didn’t answer. My mother was worried. [Degracia] was calling him consistently that day about the money that was owed. I think that was the reason he went there.”
Grace’s mom, Eusebia Brioso, was too distraught to speak with The Post about her brother’s death.
Degracia was arraigned Monday and ordered held without bail. She is due back in court Friday.
