Travis Blake, a suspect who was on the run for a week, was arrested in the state of Maine in connection with the triple homicide of a woman, her son and her niece, a tourist from Jamaica, inside a home in Queens, the NYPD reported this morning.
According to the police Blake (29) was emotionally related to the older victim, Darlene Barnett , a mother of 55 years old. Extradition charges to New York were pending last night, according to Fox News.
🚨APPREHENDED🚨 for a TRIPLE HOMICIDE inside of 55-22 155 Street #Queens Travis Blake Has been Apprehended thanks to the hard work of our #nypd #media & concerned #newyorker like you! #yourcityyourcall @ Queens New York https://t.co/8ddPg9WOpq
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) July 1, 2022
Just yesterday the NYPD had released the photo Blake, asking for help locating him, in connection with the stabbing and beating murders of two women and a man at a single-family home in 116 St. .near 116 Rd., in the South Jamaica neighborhood. The three bodies were found on Friday afternoon 24, but apparently the crimes were committed two days earlier.
According to the New York police, Blake had been dating Barnett and had stopped at his house to “collect his property”. This is what the other female victim, Vashawnna Malcolm (22), told her brother by phone on Wednesday 22 of June.
Barnett, his son Dervon Brightly (55) and niece Malcolm were found dead in their home two days later, their bodies already decomposing by the summer heat, according to police.
Malcolm, a native of the island of Jamaica, was visiting New York, according to sources. Her body was the first to be found by the police. She was found bound and gagged with duct tape in a second-floor room and had been stabbed multiple times, according to New York Post.
The bodies of her aunt and his cousin were found in the locked basement of the house. Barnett was stabbed multiple times and her son suffered severe head trauma. The motive for the triple crime is still unclear.