Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announce Wednesday that a man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for murdering a Mount Vernon man.

Bed-Stuy’s Derek Whitaker ambushed and fatally shot Jonathan Blake, 55, back on March 13, 2020. Whitaker attempted to conceal his crime by setting fire to Blake’s corpse.

Whitaker was convicted on June 16 of second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, fourth-degree arson, tampering with physical evidence, and concealment of a human corpse following a jury trial.

Whitaker and Blake were romantic rivals, and he stalked Blake for months before the murder.