A Staten Island man busted yesterday for allegedly strangling a pregnant woman would have seen her face every time he walked out his door the past two weeks — on the “missing person’’ fliers posted just outside.
The fliers’ haunting images of 20-year-old Megan Marotte — along with a heartbreaking plea from her family and friends for information about the troubled mom-to-be’s whereabouts — are still posted on two poles outside the Port Richmond home of suspect Pedro Martin, 27.
“It’s pretty ironic that two missing posters are up in front of his house,” a law-enforcement source said, adding Martin would likely have been “rattled’’ at seeing them outside his second-floor apartment.
Neighbors said Martin walked his three Chihuahuas in front of the Forest Avenue home every day.
“I thought it was strange because he would always say hello but he never made eye contact,” said neighbor Grace Rechua, 42.
Martin was arrested after allegedly killing Marotte, a drug user, in a paid sex tryst gone awry.
Marotte went missing Aug. 4, and her body was found 11 days later, naked from the waist down, in Willowbrook Park just blocks from Martin’s home.
The petite brunette and Martin had met at a local deli the day she disappeared, law-enforcement sources said. The two struck up a conversation and she allegedly agreed to have sex in exchange for cash, sources said.
He bought condoms, and they took a car service to a nearby Ramada Inn. But they were turned away because Martin had allegedly trashed a room there before, sources said.
The duo then took the cab to the park, where Martin allegedly killed her.
The cabby who drove the couple back and forth tipped off cops to having seen Martin with Marotte, and the suspect allegedly implicated himself, saying he and the woman fought over money, sources said.
The expectant mother had no prostitution history but was arrested recently for driving under the influence of drugs, police said.
Martin has been charged with second-degree murder.