Queens Woman Found Shot in Shallow Grave; Ex-Boyfriend Charged with Murder

Rogelio Lozano-Garita, 26, was charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon, concealment of a human corpse, and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the death of Seraphina Pereira, 35, a mother of three. Pereira had been reported missing from her home at NYCHA's Ocean Bay apartments in the Rockaways on the morning of October 19. Her body was discovered just before 10 p.m. on Saturday near a cricket field in the Edgemere neighborhood of the Rockaways — about half a mile from where she had lived. On Monday, the city's chief medical examiner ruled her death a homicide and determined she had been shot in the head, neck, and torso. Lozano-Garita, identified by police as Pereira's ex-boyfriend, was taken into custody on Monday and formally charged on Tuesday, according to the NYPD.