Man Admits Dismembering Ex-Girlfriend and Keeping Her Severed Head in Suitcase After Feeling Betrayed

A New York man admitted to killing and dismembering his former girlfriend after she ended their relationship, then placing her severed head in a suitcase alongside a flower. Investigators said he later told them she had “played me like a sucker.”

Damon Foy, 50, of Kerhonkson, pleaded guilty last week to second-degree murder in the 2024 killing of Alberta Dale, 44, of Pennsylvania, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office said.

According to prosecutors, Foy killed Dale and dismembered her body between March 31 and April 1, 2024. He was attempting to dispose of her remains when law enforcement intervened.

The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office opened the investigation on April 1, 2024, after Dale’s family in Pennsylvania contacted authorities over concerns about her safety. Deputies initially conducted a welfare check before treating the case as a missing-person investigation.

Deputies visited Foy’s apartment on April 1 and found Dale’s vehicle there, according to the New York Post. They returned the following day after a member of the public discovered Dale’s phone along the roadside and handed it over to authorities, raising investigators’ suspicions that she may have been the victim of foul play.

When investigators arrived at Foy’s home, he reportedly whispered, “She’s in there.” He then said, “I killed her,” according to court documents cited by the New York Post.

Authorities secured a search warrant for the apartment and discovered a suitcase containing Dale’s remains in a closet. Foy was arrested and charged in connection with her death.

Court documents said investigators “immediately noticed what appeared to be dried blood” after shining a flashlight on the suitcase.

“Officers opened the defendant’s suitcase and found Alberta Dale’s partial dismembered remains, including her severed head,” the documents stated, according to the New York Post.

Investigators did not find the rest of Dale’s dismembered body while carrying out the search, the documents said.

During a later interview, Foy told investigators that he “loved her,” according to the court documents.

Foy said Dale had repeatedly “play[ed] me like a fool, play[ed] me like a sucker,” adding that he believed she had taken advantage of him and “the whole f–king system.”

He also said he had been ordered to leave his own home, despite there being no bill in Dale’s name, and claimed that the incident caused things to become “clearer” to him.

Asked why a flower had been placed inside the suitcase, Foy said only that he was thinking about “what still happened last night to take s— over the top.”

Court documents cited by the New York Post also describe a history of domestic violence involving Foy and Dale.

One earlier domestic incident involved a gun. Investigators also saw an axe on Foy’s property while searching for Dale.

Dale had previously warned authorities that “if she went missing it was because [Foy] killed her,” according to the court records.

Under the terms of a plea agreement, Foy is expected to receive a sentence of 23 years to life in prison. The minimum term is two years below the maximum possible sentence of 25 years to life, the Daily Freeman reported.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Liz Culmone-Mills told the outlet that the agreement was backed by Dale’s family.

“The District Attorney’s Office would not be making this recommendation were it not for Alberta Dale’s family,” Culmone-Mills told the outlet.

Foy is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16.

“The total selfish disregard for the life and dignity of another person is at the heart of domestic violence; Damon Foy has shown that to us,” District Attorney Emmanuel C. Nneji said in a statement. “We must recognize in our laws the rights of victims of domestic violence to be physically, psychologically, and emotionally safe from their tormentors and the dangers specifically targeted for them, and demand procedures that actually protect victims for real, not just on paper.”