A homeless man apparently used a pillowcase to suffocate a college honors student he had just met, then hung out at the young man’s apartment to watch a gory horror film before stealing electronics from the apartment and selling them, police said Tuesday.

Kevin Pravia, 19, was found Sunday night by his roommate in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The Pace University sophomore was last seen being helped into a taxi early Saturday after a party in Manhattan.

Jeromie Cancel, 22, was arrested Tuesday on murder charges. Investigators said that while Cancel was being questioned in an unrelated case, he admitted suffocating Pravia and stealing his cell phone, laptop computer and iPod.