An empty crib, a baby’s blanket, a photograph – that’s all Manuel Villot has left of his family.
A day after his girlfriend Yaritza Santos and their baby boy Manuel were cruelly run down on Atlantic Avenue, this father was all alone in his son’s room – preparing to go to Kings County Hospital morgue to identify his loved ones.
Santos was the best mother Villot could have ever imagined for his son, but his dream of a happy family was torn apart Wednesday when cops say drug-fueled Long Islander John Zappulla went on a hit-and-run rampage in his father’s Jeep.
Zappulla, 25, is facing three counts of murder for the deaths of Santos, 19, baby Manuel – 11 months old – and Santos’ best friend, Nery Mejia, 17.
The two young mothers were run over as they pushed their strollers across Atlantic Avenue at Logan Street. Only Mejia’s 10-month-old son Ricky survived – barely.
When the hit and run happened, Santos was making arrangements for little Manny’s first birthday party on March 30. She wanted souvenir ribbons for all the party guests to wear.
As Santos’ closest friend, Mejia certainly would have been at the party. The two girls had grown up together, lost touch briefly, but then found one another again, family and friends said.
Over the last year, they had become nearly inseparable, said Mejia’s sister Wanda Santana.
Santana married Raoul Santos – Yaritza’s oldest brother – less than a month ago, so she lost a younger sister and a sister-in-law on Wednesday.
“They were really close,” Santana said of the two young women.
“They both had their babies around the same time. And they got even closer.”
Earlier in the day, family gathered in the Santos’ Cypress Hills home, leafing through photos of much happier times: Two young women smiling and posing their little boys in snuggly snowsuits and bare-bottom tub shots.
The photos brought smiles but also tears as the tight-knit extended family struggled to deal with their tragic losses.
“They would always go out together and do things together,” Santana said.
“They had a lot in common,” said another family member. “They were just best friends.”
Santos was super friendly, Santana added. “She was outgoing and she wanted to do something with herself,” she said.