Three people were arrested yesterday in connection with the strangulation of a woman in a Bronx housing project, the second such murder in that housing project in six months, police said.

The victim, identified as Diana Almestica, 32, was found half-naked, strangled, and dumped inside a plastic bag in the second-floor stairwell of the Murphy Consolidated Housing Development on 1010 E. 178th St. in the Bronx, police said. Another woman, Jeanine Faulmino, was found naked in a stairwell opposite the building in January.

The three suspects arrested were Gerald Watkins, 24, Doris Edwards, 38, and Jeffery Chitty, 21. Mr. Watkins and Doris Edwards live together in the building, Mr. Chitty also lives in the development. Mr. Watkins and Ms. Edwards were charged with murder. Police said they killed Almestica because she owed them money.

The third suspect, Mr. Chitty, was arrested for hindering prosecution. Police said they do not believe there is a connection between the deaths of Almestica and Faulmino.

DETECTIVE ARRESTED IN STING

An NYPD detective was arrested in an Internet pedophile sting, the Westchester County district attorney’s office announced yesterday.

Prosecutors said Michael Lapine, 37, was arrested in Ronkonoma after he engaged in sexually explicit conversations online with an investigator posing as a 14-year-old boy. Detective Lapine was arrested yesterday when he attempted to meet the minor. He was charged with attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison.

Detective Lapine, who was assigned to the NYPD Brooklyn North Anti-Crime Unit, has been suspended, police said.

WOMAN STABBED TO DEATH

Two people were stabbed – one fatally – in Jamaica, Queens, yesterday and police arrested the murder victim’s estranged husband, Anthony Torres, and charged him with murder. Kiandra Torres, 23, of 175th Street, Queens, was pronounced dead at Mary Immaculate Hospital after being stabbed multiple times at her home at 2:07 a.m., police said. Torres’s 28-year-old boyfriend, who was not identified, was also stabbed numerous times and was listed in serious condition at the hospital. Police said Torres had filed an order of protection against her husband, who turned himself in yesterday.

ARREST IN RAPE – ABDUCTION

A man was arrested yesterday for allegedly raping and abducting his ex-wife at Tremont, the Bronx, and then kidnapping their two children, police said. Michael Gamble, 43, is accused of abducting his ex-wife from her job at a video store at 155-25 Cross Island Parkway at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday and sexually assaulting her. The children were brought to a Bronx stationhouse Sunday by a relative.

Gamble surrendered to police at 3:55 a.m. yesterday and was charged with first-degree rape, second-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment, and custodial indifference.