NY Actress Slain

[Janice]

A stunning 28-year-old actress died in her fiancé's arms yesterday after a Lower East Side thug answered her challenge — "What are you going to do, shoot us?" — by firing a single bullet into her chest, cops said.

Nicole DuFresne, of Brooklyn, had just left a trendy bar with her fiancé and another couple when they were confronted at about 3:15 a.m. by four muggers — two men and two women — at the corner of Clinton and Rivington streets, police said.

One of the thugs, who was carrying a gun, demanded money.

DuFresne's fiancé, Jeffrey Sparks, 28, not seeing the mugger had a gun and not taking the request seriously, tried to push past the man.

"At that point, using both hands, he hit me in the face with the gun," Sparks said.

The grieving fiancé said he and his friend, Scott Nath, started walking away, thinking the trouble would pass.

But as they did, the man tried to grab the purse of DuFresne's friend, actress and playwright Mary Jane Gibson. That's when DuFresne protested, telling the thug, "What are you trying to do? What are you going to do, shoot us?"

Ten seconds later, a shot rang out.

"I turned and I saw Nicole on her back on the street. Mary Jane was standing over her," Sparks said.

"I ran to her. I held her in my arms and begged her to hold on. But she gave me this look that pretty much told me she couldn't.

"She died in my arms. She died angry because she saw me hurt and bleeding."

DuFresne — a rape victim who listed "stage combat" as a skill on her résumé — was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The four thugs fled with a cellphone and credit cards after emptying Gibson's purse.

DuFresne, Sparks and their friends were barhopping to celebrate her first night as a bartender/waitress at the new Rockwood Music Hall on Allen Street. The shooting took place shortly after they left the popular Ludlow Street bar Max Fish.

Sparks said the muggers were "young guys, very young, probably teenagers."

He said of the gunman, "It looked like it's probably the first robbery he'd ever done. He wasn't good at it."

Cops were reviewing footage from four security cameras at a nearby restaurant.

DuFresne and Sparks, both Minneapolis natives, moved to Greenpoint two years ago, he said.

She graduated from Boston's Emerson College magna cum laude, with a bachelor of fine arts in acting and a minor in playwriting and modern dance.

She also lists on her résumé 22 theater roles, four film roles and five playwright credits. She was a founding member of Present Tense Theater Project.

According to a posting on Present Tense's Web page, DuFresne was "researching and writing several pieces out of her small apartment in Greenpoint."

Sparks said DuFresne considered herself more of a playwright, adding that they were in the process of creating a pilot episode for the Food Network in which DuFresne would interview New York chefs.

"She drew people to her," Sparks said. "She was glowing with energy."

DuFresne last year took acting classes at LAByrinth Theater in Manhattan. David Deblinger, the theater's co-founder and one of DuFresne's acting teachers, said she "was a vital, talented, beautiful young woman, so motivated, and honest and passionate — exactly the type of artist we crave at LAByrinth. It is a terrible loss."

DuFresne was raped while at Emerson. She dedicated the first play she wrote, "Burning Cage," to Linda Johnson, a now- deceased therapist who helped her get through the ordeal. "Like so many victims of rape, I kept it a secret for months," DuFresne said in an interview two years ago. "It was Linda who taught me the importance of dealing with tragedy head-on . . . to come out of hiding."

Nicole DuFresne's webpage: http://www.nicoledufresne.com/

[*MIBabe03*]

That's really sad.

[Brian Damage]

Yeah, I heard about this last night. Horrible story.

[bossradio93]

Wow, what a waste. She could've had a very promising acting career in whatever TV or movies she wanted to be in. I hope they (New York authorities) find those people, bring them to justice and kill them. It's a disgrace! Very sad. Thank you, Janice for posting this.

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

God

[dawsongirl]

Senseless. I hate people.

[Hollow]

Originally Posted by webwarrior762004

Don't say you hate people, just people who do things like this.

don't tell her what to do.

[MissZero]

thats sad I saw her boyfriend on GMA this morning...this is awful

[Cactus Jack]

Thats sad

[theanswerman]

thats awful.

why must people end others lives for no apparent reason?

[Karen*]

That's horrible. She was so beautiful and she had everything going for her...What a tragedy.

[Warm & Fuzzy]

Gosh, some people have serious problems. *shakes head*

[Michael [hXc]]

Originally Posted by webwarrior762004

Don't say you hate people, just people who do things like this.

she can say whatever she wants

[bossradio93]

Originally Posted by dawsongirl

Senseless. I hate people.

Here quote simply means people who do these kinds of things makes you wonder about people sometimes. Why is one person killed that effects so many who don't even know her? Dawsongirl has a point that certain people who do these kinds of acts one forms a perception on why a certain few do what they do to affect the lives of so many.

I wonder about that sometimes. Sometimes I, too, hate people for doing things like that.

[Superstar]

thats so sad