Victim Was Strangled, Smothered by Boyfriend

The police have charged Michael Cordero in the murder of his girlfriend, Boitumelo McCallum. Police sources tell the Daily News and Post that Cordero admitted to confronting McCallum on Friday. From the Post:

Cordero told cops he visited McCallum, 20, a day after she threw a party there without inviting him, authorities said. After his arrival, the two lay on her bed and watched a movie he had brought - but Cordero was in a foul mood, sources said.

When McCallum kept asking, "What's the matter?" Cordero mentioned the party and his belief that the Mills College junior slept with another man during it.

Asked by cops how he knew that, Cordero told them, "She didn't tell me, but I know how she is."

Then Cordero strangled 20-year-old McCallum on the bed. He also allegedly punched her in the face, causing a broken nose, and then smothered her with a towel. Finally, he wrapped her body in a sheet. The source said to the News, "He does all this, and now he's sorry. He says he didn't mean to do it - that it was in the heat of an argument." McCallum's body wasn't discovered until Sunday night.

Cordero was apprehended on Tuesday night, after trying to kill himself on the roof of his apartment building at the Amsterdam Houses on the Upper West Side. A neighbor overheard Cordero saying he was sorry, and his brother-in-law responded "I can't forgive you." After Cordero silt his wrists, he tried to escape but family members chased after him. The Sun reports that passers-by called 911 when they saw the chase, and the police found Cordero at the Western Beef on West End and 62nd.

A former dorm mate of McCallum's from Mills College tells the NY Times that friends warned her that Cordero, who moved to California to be closer with her in March, was bad news. Julie Parker said they called him McCallum's "stalker from New York", “He was obsessed with her. We never took it seriously and we should have.”

Cordero is currently at Bellevue on suicide watch. He will be arraigned for second-degree murder. McCallum's parents Teboho Mojo and Robert McCallum, both professors at NYU, are now in New York and were at the South African Consulate yesterda. McCallum will be buried in South Africa.

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Comments (27) [rss]

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sad. It annoys me when people commit some horrible deed, and then "try" to kill themselves....

You left out the part where she was also dating another winner "who, like Cordero, has a minor criminal record."

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They should give that loser a bag of razors and a jug of sleeping pills in his room at Bellevue.

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she dated 2 "winners"? interesting, very interesting.

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note to self, don't let daughter date "winners"...

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"mama, don't let your babies grow up to be jealous, psycho, needy, murderers..."

Which all of this sorta reminded me of an mta sponsored "poetry in motion" poem posted in subway cars:

A Little Tooth
by Thomas Lux

Your baby grows a tooth, then two,
and four, and five, then she wants some meat
directly from the bone. It's all

over: she'll learn some words, she'll fall
in love with cretins, dolts, a sweet
talker on his way to jail. And you,

your wife, get old, flyblown, and rue
nothing. You did, you loved, your feet
are sore. It's dusk. Your daughter's tall.

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Wow, she's got that Tyra Banks forehead.. just saying.

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Why does the city waste money on suicide watches? Give the guy a gun and save mucho dollars in court costs.

they found her "to do" list:
1) don't invite my criminal boyfriend to party
2) cheat on my criminal boyfriend with a different criminal
3) have my criminal boyfriend in bed the next day so he can bathe in the smell of my sex with another criminal
4) expect that nothing bad will happen when i toy with criminals

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I love how it's suddenly all HER fault that her boyfriend killed her. She dated a shady guy, so she deserved to die, right?

She just didn't date A shady guy, she had the unfortunately foresight to be dating TWO shady characters at the same time. If that isn't asking for trouble I don't know what is. It's not that it's her fault, but don't expect not to get hit by a car when you stand in the middle of Queens' "Boulevard of Death." People just put themselves in situation they might not be well equip to handle.

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Not to be racist or anything, but do most African-American women tend to gravitate towards thug types - not white bad boy - but rather real THUGS? That would explain their perennial social situation from a Darwinian standpoint....

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I wonder if this "good girl" was game with respect to the three points of penetration...

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Hey, to all of you who wish to disgrace the memory of a beautiful woman, fuck you. I knew both the victim and the aggressor and it was a clear cut case of domestic violence. Let me pose a question, can any of you assholes escape a situation in which you are sexually, physically and emotionally abuse relationship? Especially if the abuser knows where you live, where your family lives and where your friends live? It's a difficult situation to get out of. who are all of you to pass judgment on her. Shame on you.

We have to pay attention to our friends, our family, our aquaintances... someone must have seen evidence of how unstable this guy was. Maybe we can help someone in the future before it's too late.

Girls, if your bf shows any sign of abuse, leave him. It will only get worse. It's no one's fault but this asshole that killed her, but we all have to try and help stop this senseless crap.

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Call me crazy but you don't lie in bed watching a movie with a supposed ex-boyfriend you are afraid of because you've already seen signs of his mental instability and crazy jealousy....sorry but I'm not buying it.

There's a point where people have to take responsibility for their lives and the people who they allow into their lives.

Sounds to me like she didn't do that. Did she deserve to die because of it? No. Let this be a lesson to all those women out there who stay in unhealthy relationships. It doesn't matter how pretty you are, how rich or smart or respectable your parents are, how many great friends you have, if you hang with trouble-- you get TROUBLE.

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Not to be racist or anything, but do most African-American women tend to gravitate towards thug types - not white bad boy - but rather real THUGS? That would explain their perennial social situation from a Darwinian standpoint....

You racist ASSHOLE... the answer would be no.

Most African-American women steer clear of thug types.

By the way, how do white women like Natalie Holloway explain the perennial social situatian of white women from a Darwinian standpoint?

How about Jennifer Levin who was murdered by "white bad boy" Robert Chambers.

You can GO TO HELL with that racist bullshit!

It's easy to dismiss #13 commenter as the ravings of a racist ass, but unfortunately figures from a recent U.S. Dept of Justice report that of the nearly 16,500 murder victims in 2005, 49 percent were black Americans even though they only make up 13 percent of the U.S. population. "Black women made up 35 percent, or 1,200, of the nearly 3,500 female homicide victims." Given such daunting statistic wouldn't you do everything to steer clear of any element of crazed needy boyfriends who have criminal records.

www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070809202217.9us2orhu&show_article=1
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/bvvc.htm

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thanks for the stats (20)
my hubby & I were discussing this just the other day.

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Umm, is it racist of me to point out that perhaps most African-American males tend to be incarcerated by a certain age range, or have at least left a paper trail of delinquency? Ya know, I've always thought that perhaps good black men were hard to find but then, I've realized that "someone" is responsible for their unbringing and instilling of proper social and moral values. I guess the key point for debate here would be the interpretation of the word "proper"...

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Actually, I would think that most African-American women in the inner city neighborhoods would have no choice but to forge relationships with the type of men available at their disposal. Hence, we see the perpetuation of this cycle of poverty and violence...

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#21 & 22 Yo that be all racist bullshlt!! Whitey created the ghetto to oppress the black man! That why he be in the situation he in!!!! Damm Kracker Muthafkas!!!

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True dat my brutha true dat!!

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Well madam, I guess you should know that Boitumelo's mom has been working with a lawyer. Usually, if you know "your own", sometimes when inner city black families become successful, they show off a little. I know that when an american family is sucessful, after the home and expensive cars, they usually get a family attorney. They usually aren't famous at all, so they tell their attorney/their attorney gives them the option to have anything that happens in the family publicized. That means if they find a million dollars, if they trip over a live wire and are miraculously saved, if they somehow die, no matter what it is, it gets publicized. That's what's happening here.I knew her and Michael because they frecuented a healthfood store in Greenwich Village where I used to work called Lifethyme Complete Natural Market. The cashiers are all women and two of them are older. They would go on and on about how this one girl who usually came in with another girl (Jennifer, the 21 year old who speaks out against him in the media)knew a girl who just happened to be african was set for life since she had parents who both taught at one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S. etc. Tumi was arrogant but was a bit refined and always seem to remind him that no matter how hard he tried, he would never in life, as long as he lived on planet earth, achieve what she had. She lived in a really prestigious area in the city and when he'd come over she'd remind him "well, YOU couldn't afford to live here." That doesn't mean she was bad, but that helps, especially when your boyfriend is real and grew up living a regular life. Later, she came to the store with another friend and she got her to admit that she liked him a lot and was just jealous. They met at a party and she was upset that he had chosen to meet Tumi instead of her. She said "Tumi is WEAK, and I could give him a run for his money." I don't think he wanted that. Guys like him don't take that type of girl seriously. He wanted a good girl.She said that hispanic guys were like the black guys. When they're in a mixed setting, they usually go for the other blacks & hispanics. I noticed Michael and really wanted to meet him. I was carrying a secret. I worked for a living and my dad was a singer. He sang during the time of Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Chi-Lites(Oh girl, Have you seen her, etc.). Music was changing then. Performers were adults, but children were being discovered and the children of entertainers were being signed. Whitney Houston, Janet & Michael Jackson, 3T Tito Jackson's sons and Gerald Levert are some of the kids we knew who got the chance to record since their parents said it was okay. People in new york know what I mean when I say that the music industry is just like they are. The blacks are like the blacks in the south. My father knew that I and my brother were being looked at and asked about, but during that time, older more mature singers were turning their backs on us and had vicious plans for the younger people there since they felt that they would be taking their place. People like Aretha Franklin (who has three sons in their 30s), the group WAR (The world is a ghetto)Diana Ross' daughter Tracey Ellis Ross Maxwell (now an actor on the UPN show "Girlfriends")and others have children who have NEVER recorded or done anything. That's because their parents thought they'd be taking their place and that they'd be deemed "washed up." Gerald Levert sang for awhile, but Mr. Levert (Eddie Levert)reminded us that his music would always be for the old so that he won't pass him up and he will eventually die from some kind of health issue because of his eating habits. "I'm gonna cultivate that now" he said. My family, in the meantime, was bannished from the industry and sent to live in a regular neighborhood in Chicago. My dad was a singer, so he got us a home and paid the mortgage for 14 years. That means, we moved in when I was 4 years old and the next payment wasn't due until we turned 18 years old. In this neighborhood, The Chi-Lites told neighbors who we were and designated a Bete Noir for me, personally. That person was 6 year old Lisa Raye, you know the actor from the player's club. I've known her since I was 4 years old. She then knew a pair of teenage girls who knew that my father was a singer. "Why are they living in THIS neighborhood" they'd say. One day while I was playing alone in our backyard they brought over a little light skinned girl who would otherwise be cute except for the Chicago girl scowl on her face and said to me "Do you see this little girl, she's your age and I'm gonna make sure that she follows you through life little boy!" From that day on, she has always been around nagging me, spreading things, telling the world "One day I'm gonna be a star." People would go, "what do you mean?" Then she'd tell them my story. Later, when I began my second year in high school, I saw the same teenage girl Lisa would come around with and she told me that they were paid by some guys from the music industry-the Chi-Lites to terrorize me and besmirch my reputation but that if I could deal with the fact she will always be around to nag me and make sure I had absolutely NO friends (because of rumors), that one day I would be able to sue if nothing else. The key was to relocate to New York. You could find a spanish new yorker like Tumi's boyfriend who would love to hear your story or one of the guys from the Latino Fan Club (in Chicago we always have hopes that they'll become more main stream). Through the years Lisa has made sure that I have been fired or downsized or written up at every job I've ever had. I forgot to mention that there was a kid who Lisa knew when I was about 12, Lisa was 14. He had convinced his mom to relocate from the south because he had dreams of becoming famous, but didn't know what he wanted to do. He didn't even know if he himself had talent. Anyway, Lisa had become a flower. In Chicago there are no girl gangs, but some gangsters would select girls in the neighborhood to represent them. That meant the new kid could hang out with the popular crowd. He worked and was about 19 or 20. This is turning into a book. Anyway, Lisa had actually met this guy out. She has always had older friends, in this case, she used to go out with that teenage girl since she was older now. She later found out that this guy started offering money to some of the guys from my block to "do" him. He couldn't get the gangbangers, because he would've gotten beaten up, he only wanted one or two of them anyway. He wanted them to be pure, so they had to be younger. He couldn't get spanish guys because they all have supportive moms and dads. A little black boy only has his mom because they are the way they are and they refuse to change, so he chose them. So he went to my block since most of us were young. He got to know my brother and offered him money just because. Later, he asked about his little brother, me! He later would go on about how ripe I was going to be when I turned 13. When I did turn 13 he would say, "That d*ck is ripe now, you better get it now, there are a lot of girls out there that will mess it up for later." This was a guy and this guy was as my brother said "old enough to be out of high school even though he dropped out lightyears ago." Everyone just laughed because he couldn't be serious, but he worked on them mentally, even Harold. I later heard my big brother say that Damon had offered some of the kids $200-$400 to let him come over and sleep with them,especially the ones he really liked. There was a kid named Harold Mac who can be found on myspace.com whose mom lived on the next block who had been bad as a child and had somehow gotten sent to a juvenile detention center for hot wiring a car and driving around in it. Harold lived in Altgeld Gardens-the black housing projects. There, he new some guys who taught him about what they referred to as "the other kind of sex" so by the time he was 13, he knew all about it and when he went to the detention center, he was forced to there. When he got out he was 14 and told everyone he was ready for sex, but this type was a little different. When Damon came around, after hearing things from Harold, we were all shocked that Damon wasn't only willing and old since most of us were in seventh and eight grade, but he offered money! He'd mostly offer $200, but he'd only pay $100-$150 a visit.The guy who lived across the street from Harold got $150 $200 a lot. Paris Heller, a light skinned kid from my block, always got $400 a visit. Paris told us "he said he worked hard for the money, you know, like the song." I didn't have to worry because they all knew my dad was sort of famous and were forbidden to talk or play with me because of it. That's how I grew up-alone. They never ever talked or played with me at all. I was so afraid for our neighborhood. Our parents had careers, but were not spanish, so there were a substantial number of single parent families there. This went on until the guy became famous. He's now Damon Williams the comedian. When he became famous, Paris, or "P" as Damon would call him, would come up to his shows and tell the crowd that this had all happened, and for many years. It started when Prince was becoming famous and ended around the time of the Selena movie. All the comedians would come out to quiet him down, all of them, Mr. Mac, Mrs. Givens, Sommore, etc. and they'd beg him to come back stage.By this time since Damon said Paris was embarrassing him regularly, he had somehow given the kid A.I.D.S., so that was something else for the neighborhood to deal with. We had never known anyone with it before. Damon is a decent friend, but he 's got a bad side. Damon got fed up and plotted his demise. Paris was 13 when he met Damon and 25 or so when Damon had him killed. He was murdered around the time of the Selena movie. I guess I just thought that with Michael's help, I could be protected since Damon knows I'm the only one brave enough to tell this story. I miss Paris dearly, he didn't have to die. I didn't mean to write so much, but I don't know who to turn to. Finding a lawyer to take the case has been extremely difficult and I'm afraid of what Lisa and Damon may have planned for me. Michael, I wrote you a couple of times in the hospital, I'll write again. I hope you can help.

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You guys, lets not forget how important it is to write Michael. I guess Tumi's mom doesn't realize that it looks bad that she hasn't actually dignified him in person. He's a kid who was dating a kid from another family-her kid. We know what happened, but we also know that Mike is young, he's been an adult for two whole years now. She should show him support. She's a kid she's known for 2 1/2 years. For those who might be interested, his address is as follows:

Bellevue Hospital Prison Unit
c/o Michael Cordero
462 1st Avenue
New York, NY 11234

Please be supportive. We know that sometimes things happen in relationships between college age children. Let's not judge. Let's just hope that this will bring the two together. Professor Moja, I'm really sorry for all you've had to indure. I hope that you realize that having Michael around will help you heal quicker. If I get my way, maybe we can get Whitney, Mrs. Ciccone Ritchie and the Rosses to take us all to lunch-they owe me big time. Celebrities have an uncanny way of making everything alright just with their smiles and a few hugs. I know they can help heal where you hurt. I'll be in touch m'am.

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