Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella and Manchester Police Chief Allen D. Aldenberg announce that Anderson Pereira, age 43, of Methuen, Massachusetts, was sentenced today in the Hillsborough County Superior Court – Northern District, on multiple counts after being found guilty after trial.

A jury found Mr. Pereira guilty of one count of first-degree murder, for his killing of Zakhia Charabaty, age 52, of Manchester, New Hampshire. The jury also found Mr. Pereira guilty of one count of felony theft, arising from his unauthorized taking of Mr. Charabaty's vehicle, and two counts of falsifying physical evidence, arising from his removal of Mr. Charabaty's body and cellular telephone from Mr. Charabaty's Manchester home.

Mr. Pereira was sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on the murder count, and concurrent sentences on the remaining counts. Mr. Pereira also was ordered to pay restitution for Mr. Charabaty's funeral expenses and a $4,000 fine in connection with the falsification charge arising from his removal of Mr. Charabaty's body.

Mr. Pereira's arrest and prosecution was the culmination of investigative efforts by numerous law enforcement agencies beginning in March 2020, when Mr. Charabaty was reported missing. Investigators from the Manchester Police Department, as well as the Lawrence (Massachusetts) Police Department, Methuen (Massachusetts) Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission participated in the investigation. The United States Marshals Office assisted in Mr. Pereira's apprehension.