MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Glen Cove man was sentenced today to 18 years to life in prison for the March 2015 stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend. Jose Cartagena, 56, pleaded guilty to murder in the 2nd degree (an A-I felony) before Supreme Court Justice Angelo Delligatti on November 2. “This defendant senselessly murdered his ex-girlfriend and left three children without their mother,” DA Singas said. “I thank the U.S. Marshals, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Nassau County Police Department for returning him to New York so that he could face justice.” DA Singas said that on March 26, 2015, at approximately 3:15 p.m., the defendant stabbed ex-girlfriend Yanira Estella Canjura Martinez, 32, multiple times in a Glen Cove parking lot on Glen Street. The victim, who had separated from the defendant a week earlier, was on her way to pick up her five-year old daughter. Martinez was pronounced dead at 4:02 p.m. at a local hospital. Cartagena, who fled the scene, was apprehended in Delano, California, on April 6, 2015, with the assistance of U.S. Marshals, ICE and NCPD. Assistant District Attorney Martin Meaney of DA Singas’ Major Offense Bureau prosecuted the case. Cartagena is represented by Ronald Beckoff, Esq.