Sex worker accused of injecting lethal doses of fentanyl into three men in Manhattan during a 10-month heist online profile seeks correspondence with a pen pal who is willing to accept the alleged killer, despite her disturbing crimes.
“I'm very funny, loving, caring and outgoing. I hope to get to know you as much as you get to know me. We'll talk soon,” says the penacon.com profile of 36-year-old Tabitha Bundrick, who was charged in Manhattan criminal court of murder, robbery, burglary and assault for a crime spree in which she injected drugs laced with fentanyl to knock out four men, three of whom died.
Bundrick, who is already serving a 13-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in federal court to two counts of drug distribution in connection with the men's deaths as part of a plea agreement in February, enjoys horror movies, exercises, studies and “hopes to be home soon,” according to her profile on penacon.com.
“I'm looking for someone who will get to know me, accept me for who I am, and do the same for him in return,” Bundrick's profile reads.
Bundrick's less sunny background includes luring three victims to their deaths with offers of sex for money, then drugging them with fentanyl, stealing their belongings and leaving them to die, prosecutors said.
Bundrick first came to the attention of the Manhattan district attorney in March 2024 after her arrest on burglary and grand theft charges, setting off an investigation that led to the recent triple murder charges. She remained in federal custody on related crimes while the district attorney's investigation continued.
Prosecutors say Bundrick first struck, posing as a soap saleswoman on the sidewalk outside a laundry in Washington Heights, when she offered to have sex with two men, 42-year-old Mario Paullan and his ex-brother-in-law, in exchange for cash on April 30, 2023.
Bundrick led two men to a vacant apartment she broke into on 159th Street near Amsterdam Avenue, where she distributed a drug she told the men was called “perico,” slang for cocaine, prosecutors said.
The next morning, Paullan's friend woke up to find the victim dead next to him and his belongings, including his wallet and cellphone, stolen, prosecutors said.
Investigators found footage on Pollan's phones, recorded hours before his death, in which victims can be heard “snorting and snorting” as Bundrick encouraged them to consume more of the fentanyl-laced drug, prosecutors said. At one point, Paullan can be heard refusing Bundrick's offer to take drugs, but then snorting a third and final amount of suspected cocaine while continuing to pressure him, prosecutors said.
Bundrick is then heard in the video telling Pollan to follow her to bed while telling his ex-brother-in-law to wait, saying she could only “handle one of them,” prosecutors said.
An autopsy determined that Paullan died due to acute fentanyl and alcohol intoxication and that no traces of cocaine were found in his system, prosecutors said.
Paullan immigrated to the United States from Ecuador and worked in construction to support his family, including his wife and three children, who still live in his home country, a friend told the Daily News.
“He was a good man. He worked for his family. He told me about his family, he wanted to move his family here,” Fernando Guano said. “He was here for a couple of months and worked hard to help his family.”
The immigrant had only been in the country for five months before he encountered Bundrick, Guano said.
“He was new to this country. He didn't understand the danger,” Guano said.
Pollan's son described the pain of losing his father in a letter filed in federal court before Bundrick's sentencing on federal charges in August.
“The death of my father was the hardest blow life has dealt me,” wrote Paullan’s son, who is not named in the letter. “I felt like my world had collapsed. He told me that I had to be the man of the house, take care of my mother and sister. Now, although I feel broken inside, I wipe away my tears to hold them back and tell them everything will be okay.” Paullan's son wrote to the court.
The man's wife, who has also not been named, said Paullan's murder forced her to “be both a mother and a father, working tirelessly from Sunday to Sunday.”
“[It] I find it very difficult to control myself emotionally and financially. It hurts not to be there for my children the way I would like,” she wrote, adding that she could not explain his passing to their 4-year-old daughter.
Bundrick's second victim would die on Sept. 27 that year when, after meeting 39-year-old Miguel Naves, she accompanied the man to his apartment on 158th Street near Amsterdam Avenue, where they planned to have sex, prosecutors said.
There, prosecutors say, Bundrick incapacitated the victim with fentanyl and then stole his belongings, including his cellphone and tablet, prosecutors said.
Later that day, Bundrick's neighbor used Navez's cellphone to call 911 after the defendant had an asthma attack, and Bundrick herself used the phone the next day to make several calls, including to her mother and a drug dealer, prosecutors said.
On Sept. 30, Navez's brother found the victim dead with his pants down to his knees and drug wrappers lying on the bed next to his body, prosecutors said. Pathologists determined his death was the result of acute fentanyl and alcohol intoxication, court documents show.
Neighbors of Paullan and Naves told The News that grieving families of the victims have set up memorials outside the buildings where they died.
Bundrick's last alleged killing occurred on Feb. 25, 2024, when she followed Abrichan Fernandez, 34, to his apartment building on 144th Street, near Convenant Avenue, where the couple chatted before heading inside together, prosecutors said.
Retrieved by Daily News
Abrichan Fernandez died on February 25, 2024. (Obtained by Daily News)
After Bundrick incapacitated Fernandez with fentanyl, prosecutors said, she was seen leaving and entering the victim's apartment several times, adjusting the building's door for easier access as she carried several large bags outside before getting into a taxi that took her to her apartment, prosecutors said.
Bundrick also stole Rodriguez's credit cards, which her son was filmed using the next day, prosecutors said.
The building manager where Fernandez lived told the Daily News that he found the victim “cold and numb” in his apartment after the man's cousin called and asked for a medical examination.
The manager said the building recorded footage of a woman entering the building with Fernandez and then leaving with the victim's belongings and her face covered.
“She destroyed him, took his clothes, computers, sneakers, everything,” the supervisor said. “It's crazy, she's a serial killer.”
In a statement filed in federal court ahead of her sentencing in federal court in August, Bundrick's attorney argued that she relied on drugs to “get through the experience of prostituting her body” and that she never intended to kill anyone when she shared her drugs with the victims.
“Every night when Tabitha Bundrick lay on her bare back, spread her legs and allowed complete strangers to sexually penetrate her body, the only thing that could help her survive this terrifying external body experience was the numbness she achieved from taking drugs,” said Kristoff Williams of the Federal Defenders.
“[It] This was the life she was thrust into as an impressionable teenager with a learning disability that, to this day, limits her intellectual functioning to a third-grade level.”
