The woman who killed an 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach by pushing her to the ground in New York City last year pleaded guilty on Wednesday, according to authorities.
Lauren Pazienza, 28, will be sentenced to eight years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision, Manhattan district attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced this week.
Pazienza pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter. Her lawyers have not made a public statement.
On March 10, 2022, Pazienza pushed 87-year-old Barbara Gustern to the ground in a reportedly unprovoked altercation near Manhattan’s Chelsea Park.
According to police reports, Pazienza, a former event planner, shouted obscenities as she crossed West 23rd Street.
In a press release, Bragg said Pazienza “aggressively shoved Barbara Gustern to the ground.”
Gustern fell on her head, resulting in a “massive hemorrhage” to the left side of her brain. Bragg said Pazienza “walked away as the beloved New Yorker lay there bleeding.”
Eyewitnesses called EMS to the scene and Gustern was transported to hospital, where she died five days after the incident.
The D.A.’s office said Pazienza lingered in the area for about 20 minutes after the assault. She then took the subway home with her fiancé. That evening, she deleted her social media accounts, removed her wedding website and left New York City to stay with family in Long Island.
She was arrested nearly two weeks after the attack.
Bragg said Pazienza’s guilty plea will bring justice for her “deadly actions.”
“We continue to mourn the loss of Barbara Gustern, a talented musical theater performer and vocal coach who touched so many in New York City and beyond,” he said.
Gustern was known by many in the Broadway community and served as the vocal coach for the 2019 revival of the musical Oklahoma!.
Pazienza’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 29. She has been held in the Rikers Island jail complex since a judge revoked her bail in May 2022.
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