Darren Mansfield pleads guilty in murder of one woman, strangulation of another, Suffolk DA says

A 23-year-old man from Bay Shore is expected to be sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to the “strangulation murder” of a woman while he was out on bail after nearly strangling another woman to death, Suffolk prosecutors said Thursday.

Darren Mansfield pleaded guilty Wednesday to two felonies: first-degree manslaughter and second-degree strangulation.

 “The violence this defendant used against these two women is unimaginable,” said District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney in a statement.

“One of the victims while severely injured, managed to escape with her life, but the other was not as fortunate. Her life was senselessly taken from her, and her loved ones must bear that loss.”

Mansfield's Garden City attorney, Jerald Carter, declined to comment.

In November 2020 while out on date at the Bay Shore Marina, Mansfield strangled the first woman. Although he already had been arrested and indicted in that assault, by April 2021, Mansfield was dating Frania Espinal, 22, of Dix Hills.

Her family reported her missing that month; around April 10, the couple was seen on video going into his Bay Shore apartment.

“Espinal was never seen alive again,” the statement said.

Mansfield was arrested after he told “a friend he had strangled someone and had the body in his residence,” prosecutors said.

Her body wrapped in a tarp, Espinal was found in his bedroom.

Mansfield’s sentencing is set for May 10.