A 39-year-old New York City escort admitted in Manhattan Supreme Court to killing three men with fentanyl-laced drugs so she could rob them, and now faces up to life in prison.

Tabitha Bundrick entered guilty pleas to three murder charges and one count for drugging a fourth person who survived, ending a case that stretched across nearly a year of calculated predation in upper Manhattan. Judge Kathryn Paek stated Bundrick will be sentenced to 27 years to life. Sentencing is set for October 6.

The scheme was simple and lethal. Bundrick lured men with the promise of sex, gave them drugs laced with fentanyl that she passed off as cocaine, waited for them to lose consciousness, then stripped them of phones, cash, watches, clothes, and sneakers before walking out. Three men never woke up. A fourth survived only by luck.

Mario Paullan told Bundrick he had never done drugs, she pushed him to keep going

The first killing happened on April 30, 2023. Bundrick convinced Mario Paullan, 42, and a companion to come back to an apartment where, as the indictment described, they would trade cash for sex. Once inside, she gave them the fentanyl-laced drugs.

Paullan told Bundrick he had never done drugs before. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran stated at a prior proceeding that Bundrick encouraged both men to "do it again" over and over. Paullan died at the scene. His companion woke up later in the emptied apartment, next to Paullan's body. Everything of value was gone.

That surviving companion is the fourth victim named in the plea, drugged, robbed, and left for dead alongside his friend's corpse.

Five months later, a second man found dead with his pants at his knees

Roughly five months after the Paullan killing, Bundrick met Miguel Navez, 39. She went back to his apartment, fed him the same fentanyl-laced drugs, and robbed him. Navez's brother found his body days later. His pants were down around his knees. Personal items were missing from the apartment.

Bundrick was not done. On February 25, 2024, she killed Abrihan Fernandez inside his upper Manhattan apartment using the same method. This time, surveillance cameras captured her entering and exiting the building carrying what prosecutors described as several "giant laundry bags" stuffed with sneakers and other stolen property.

Three dead men in ten months. The same method each time, drugs dressed up as cocaine, a victim who passed out, a woman who walked away with everything she could carry.

Bundrick already sentenced on federal drug charges tied to the same killings

Before her state guilty plea, Bundrick had already been sentenced on federal drug distribution charges connected to the same scheme. The state and federal sentences will run concurrently, meaning the federal time will not add years beyond the state prison term. She remains in custody.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg issued a statement after the plea, as the New York Post reported:

"The defendant showed a shocking indifference to the lives of her victims and is now facing significant consequences for her conduct."

"Shocking indifference" is one way to put it. Bundrick watched a man tell her he had never touched drugs, urged him to keep snorting, and then looted his body after the fentanyl stopped his heart. She repeated the process twice more over the following months, refining her method and growing bolder, hauling away bags of stolen goods on camera by the third killing.

Concurrent sentences raise a familiar question about accountability

The concurrent-sentencing arrangement is worth noting. Bundrick killed three people and drugged a fourth across a ten-month spree. The federal system prosecuted her for drug distribution. The state prosecuted her for murder. Both sets of sentences will run at the same time. Whether 27 years to life reflects the full weight of three premeditated killings and a near-miss fourth is a question the families of Mario Paullan, Miguel Navez, and Abrihan Fernandez will have to live with.

Paullan's family was seen leaving court after the plea. No public statements from any of the victims' relatives appeared in the record.

Bundrick's crimes were not impulsive. They followed the same script each time, the same bait, the same poison, the same exit. Fentanyl made it easy. A dose small enough to fit in a line of powder was enough to kill a grown man who had never used drugs in his life. She knew that, and she kept doing it.

When someone commits the same calculated act three times over ten months, the system owes the dead more than concurrent sentences and a press release.