‘Love you guys very much. Hope you can forgive me. I’m sorry.’ —Translation provided by an NYPD source of the note left by suspect Orlando Orea (below) before he fled to Mexico following the slaying of Michael Jones
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The fiend accused of fatally slashing a youth-soccer coach in Greenwich Village left a lame note of apology before he bolted the US for Mexico, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly revealed yesterday.
“It’s a note that basically makes a statement that he’s sorry,” Kelly said.
But law-enforcement sources said it’s unclear if Orlando Orea, 32, was actually apologizing for killing Michael “Jonesy” Jones — or only for causing trouble for his baby mama and brother Sergio.
The note — written in Spanish — partly translates to, “Love you guys very much. Hope you can forgive me. I’m sorry.”
The vaguely worded note also included messages to both his girlfriend, identified only as “Kari,’’ and his sibling, but it does not appear to be specifically addressed to either, the sources said.
Asked if the note constituted an admission of guilt, Kelly answered, “We’ll see.”
“We know the village [Orea is] from in Mexico. So, hopefully, we’ll be able to get the Mexican authorities to locate him and take him into custody,” Kelly added.
Orea, from the city of Puebla about 50 miles southeast of Mexico City, escaped the country on an Aeromexico flight out of Kennedy Airport early Tuesday, just hours ahead of authorities.
Kelly said the NYPD is “doing everything we can” to bring Orea back to New York to face justice for the gruesome slaying of Jones, 25, early Sunday on West 14th Street near Union Square.
Cops believe Orea may have killed Jones mistakenly, thinking he was among a group of guys who intervened in a bar fight involving Orea.
Jones, who worked for the New York Red Bulls, was slit across the throat and his ear was cut off.
“We are in contact with the State Department, with the legal attaché in Mexico, with Interpol. We will most likely be sending personnel [to Mexico] shortly,” Kelly said.
Police discovered Orea’s “sorry’’ note while executing a warrant at the Ridgewood, Queens, home he shared with his brother, whom cops have interviewed, Kelly said.
Landlord Nicholas Cavello yesterday said Orea had gotten into a fight with the mother of his 1-year-old son on Friday.
“He threw her out. He asked me if I could please take care of his son,” Cavello said. “But that doesn’t justify what happened.”
A police search of Orea’s apartment yielded clothing that will be tested for blood and other evidence, sources said.
Meanwhile, Orea’s “apology” rang hollow to Jones’ girlfriend, Bryeanne Murphy, and her dad, Tim.
“Tell him to come back here and apologize in person,” Tim Murphy said while his daughter broke into tears, still too upset to talk, at the family’s home in Mamaroneck, Westchester County.
“We just hope they find the guy and bring him back here.”
It isn’t the first time Orea has offered up a lame apology after an act of violence. In June 2003, he was sentenced to 21 days in a Nassau County jail on an assault rap for beating up a gal pal.
Once released, he was busted for harassment after he sent repeated text messages to his victim apologizing and telling her, “I love you,” court documents said.
Additional reporting by Kate Kowsh, Lorena Mongelli and Bob Fredericks