My confrontation with a future New Bedford murder suspect and her victim

I’ve been wanting to write this story for two years now, but for legal reasons couldn’t. On a cold October in 2015, I was attacked by an angry couple for attempting to help a young child that was being abused. Why can I write it now? Because the man is dead and the female is a suspect in his murder.

On September 18th, 23-year old Zaishary Gonzalez was arraigned for the murder of 45-year-old Juan Roman. According to witnesses on the scene, Zaishary arrived Nauset Street to confront Juan about a personal issue, when she smashed his car windows, sliced all four tires and then fatally stabbed him. She then allegedly threatened a female witness to keep quiet on the scene before fleeing. Police arrested her at her home and she will now stand trial for murder, witness intimidation and malicious destruction of a motor vehicle.

Now let’s rewind back almost two years early to a late October night when I had a run in with the murder suspect and victim. I parked my car on Purchase Street in downtown New Bedford across from The Grean Bean coffee shop. I was about a half hour early from covering the debate between Mayor Jon Mitchell and candidate Maria Giesta at the Z at 7pm.

After parking my car, I heard a woman screaming and swearing loudly. It’s not uncommon to hear shouting downtown, so I didn’t think much of it until I got out of my car and the screaming continued. I looked over toward Green Bean where a screaming woman had a small child pinned against the glass of the cafe. It was cold – he had an over-sized jacket and was crying and screaming. A man with a bicycle was standing near the woman and appeared to be overseeing the interaction. People looked, but simply walked past.

I approached the three and simply said, “Hey, what’s going on?”

The man, who would turn out to be Juan Roman, turned immediately, stepped a few inches from my face shouted, “Who the fuck are you? Get the fuck out of here!”

I stood my ground and didn’t budge an inch, but noticed a switch (a thin, but sturdy piece of bamboo used to whip an animal or a kid) in his right hand. I told him that I wasn’t going anywhere until I knew what was going on with the child. Because of the switch, I didn’t notice the woman, who turned out to be Zaishary Gonzalez.

Zaishary threw a punch over Juan’s shoulder, hitting me in the face. As I backed up Juan swung his switch twice, hitting my arm twice as I blocked the blows and once in the face, barely missing my eye.

When he reached up to swing a third time, I punched him square in the jaw, sending him back. I used to box and train mixed martial arts, and Juan realized he was in trouble, and like most cowards, pulled a knife out of his pocket.

Facing Juan, I backed up slowly towards my car where I had left my cell phone. He stalked me across the street, but kept his distance. One of the BCC police officer arrived and I told him, “He has a knife, be careful.”

Juan immediate dropped the switch and started walking towards No Problemo where Zaishary already was with her child. The BCC officer, his hand on his holster followed Juan and ordered him to stay. That’s when the New Bedford police arrived. I told them what happened and an independent witness collaborated everything I told them and tell you now.

The first words out of Zaishary’s mouth was “I already have DCF on my ass. I don’t need this shit.” Juan complained about his sore jaw as the police cuffed him and put him in the back of the cruiser. After questioning Zaishary, the police let her go home with the child. After finishing up with the police I called DCF to make a report.

The next two years were a painful process with the Bristol County justice system. I had to appear at the courthouse a dozen times for the two separate cases. Zaishary was being charged with petty assault and Juan was being charged with two cases of aggravated assault – one for the switch and one for the knife. Juan’s court appointed lawyer found every reason in the world to continue the case and the judges were more than happy to continue.

A notable instance with Zaishary was during the magistrate hearing where they would determine if there was enough evidence to proceed. After 10 minutes of lying, she finally got angry. The magistrate asked her if she had hit her son, and her response in an agitated voice was, “I will discipline my child how I see fit. No police or judge will tell me what to do.” Needless to say, the magistrate decided he had enough and told her to leave and for me to leave five minutes later. There was enough evidence to proceed. I never did get to face her in court.

After a half dozen appearances to the courthouse for Juan’s case, he finally plead guilty to both counts of aggravated assault. This happened even after the court appointed lawyers tried to intimidate me with, “You know, you did hit him back. If he is found innocent, the County could charge you with assault.” They even gave me a weak court appointed lawyer who seemed more interested in me dropping the case than serving me. I could only guess his buddy was Juan’s court-appointed lawyer. Needless to say, I told him to go away and proceeded. 30 minutes later Juan plead guilty.

When Zaishary allegedly stabbed Juan to death, I still had a open case against her. I’ll never forget the day I was sitting in a coffee shop and got the press release from the Bristol DA’s office reporting the murder. As I read through the press release I couldn’t believe the names Zaishary Gonzalez and Juan Roman were listed as the suspect and victim in a New Bedford murder. I couldn’t believe the video I saw later of Zaishary calmly being lead away to the police car.

It turns out that Zaishary is an angry person that can’t control her violence. According to her, DCF was on her before I met her that night. A few days after the attack on me, I mistakenly ran into her on Purchase Street where she grew violent, started yelling and then got on her phone and proceeded to follow me to my car. Who was she calling and why? I’ll never know.

About two weeks after Juan was killed, I received a letter from the DA’s office saying there was no further action being taken against him because he was dead. The automatic restraining order on him and his parole was dropped.

Thus is the end of my dealing with Juan and Zaishary, a sad ending to a angry couple and now an innocent child live life without a mother. I can’t help but feel the boy is better off.