Teen enters guilty plea in ‘07 strangling

A Manassas teen charged with strangling and beating a 19-year-old woman to death in August 2007 pleaded guilty in Prince William Circuit Court on Thursday.

Jose David Martinez-Zeron, 19, was charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 14 death of Brenely Ester Lessing-Yanez.

Prosecutors said Martinez-Zeron was attending a party at a house in the 8600 block of Mahogany Court in Manassas, where Lessing-Yanez rented a basement apartment.

During the party, Martinez-Zeron produced a machete, prosecutors said.

Others at the party, including Lessing-Yanez, asked him to put the machete away, but he did not.

Lessing-Yanez became angry and went into her bedroom. Martinez-Zeron followed her.

Witnesses said they did not hear anything from the room until a few minutes later when they heard "a fairly loud thump," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney William Jarvis said.

According to witnesses, Martinez-Zeron then exited the bedroom. There was blood on his shirt and pants.

Police responded and found Lessing-Yanez laying beside the bed with no clothes on. She had been punched in the face several times and choked with an electrical cord, according to an autopsy report.

Martinez-Zeron fled the scene before police arrived. Police arrested him two days later when they found him walking in Manassas Park.

Martinez-Zeron originally told police a different version of the events, Jarvis said.

He told police that he had consensual sex with Lessing-Yanez and afterward she began talking about how she didn't like men.

Martinez-Zeron said that Lessing-Yanez then picked up a stick and tried to hit him with it.

He said he punched her in the nose to defend himself and later choked her with the electrical cord.

During their investigation, police found that story to be inconsistent with the evidence, Jarvis said.  The stick Martinez-Zeron described was never found.

Martinez-Zeron is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 22.

He faces up to life in prison. Prosecutors are recommending that he be sentenced within the Virginia voluntary sentencing guidelines.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.