Metro

Cop killed wife

A Bronx jury took just three hours yesterday to find a former NYPD cop guilty of murdering his wife after she accused him of cheating in a barrage of angry text messages.

That was roughly the same amount of time it took Eddy Coello to haul his wife’s body out of their Bronx apartment, dump it beside a Westchester highway and return home, according to trial testimony.

Coello, 41, a former housing cop, had no reaction as the jury pronounced him guilty of second-degree murder.

Victim Tina Adovasio’s family cheered, cried and yelled as the verdict was read.

“The jury has spoken, and I respect the jury’s decision,” Coello’s attorney, Renee Hill, said.

“They had to determine whether it was intent to kill or intent to cause physical injury, and, obviously, the jury felt, based on the circumstances, there was intent to kill, so they found him guilty of the murder.”

As the jury deliberated, Coello was seen laughing with his lawyer, a sight that outraged the strangled nurse’s mother, Adrienne Susco.

“We’ll see who gets the last laugh,” Susco said.

Coello faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 25 years to life when he’s sentenced on Nov. 1.

Witnesses had testified that he confessed to the murder but boasted he would probably only have to do five years because he had a good lawyer.

His own lawyer never disputed that Coello put his hands around Adovasio’s throat or that he hauled her body out in a duffel bag and callously ditched it beside a busy parkway.

Hill told the jury that none of what happened in March 2011 was her client’s intent.

“He did black out,” Hill said. “He snapped. He put his hands around her throat, and when she was unconscious, he stopped. Unfortunately, it was too late. She died, and he panicked.”

The proof that he panicked, she said, is that the body was dumped in a wooded area but no attempt was made to cover or bury it.

“The evidence shows they argued, they fought, things got really heated and he snapped,” Hill said. “At best, he sought to cause serious injury. She subsequently died, and that is manslaughter.”

The jury didn’t buy it.

It affirmed the prosecution’s version, that Coello — whose NYPD career ended because of an attack against another woman — flew into violent rage after Adovasio told him in text messages that she wanted a divorce because she suspected him of cheating.

During the trial, an ex-girlfriend of Coello testified that he called her to confess the murder after Adovasio’s body had been found.

“Tina did not do anything to deserve or cause her death,” prosecutor Edward Talty said in his summation.

“The evidence is that one day she was angry. She sent some text messages. Then he came home and killed her. Then he tried to get away with it.

“He had an excuse for everything, but the excuses ran out.”

After the verdict, the victim’s mother, Susco, said, “I’m more than happy. It won’t bring my daughter back, though.”

When asked if she got the last laugh, she said, “I did, don’t you think?”