By The Diary
Aug 10, 2024, 11:11 AM EDT
A 54-year-old woman and a young man believed to be her nephew were found decomposing in a Brooklyn (NYC) apartment and yesterday a forensic examination determined that they died from stab wounds.
The case is officially considered by the New York police as a double homicide, said a spokeswoman for the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office (OCME). Both victims died from stab wounds to the neck.
No one has been arrested. The bodies were discovered on July 24 when a friend of the woman called police for a welfare check.
That morning, the friend, who bought groceries for the woman once a week, visited her apartment on Ditmas Ave. near E. Seventh St. in Kensington. No one answered the door, but he smelled a foul odor from the other side of the door. He called 911, and police arrived and opened the door, finding the two decomposing bodies.
Police have not officially identified the woman or the man, who is believed to be in his 20s and was the tenant’s nephew. The two shared the apartment. The friend had not seen the woman since July 17, she said. Daily News.
The woman had lived in the apartment for years with her parents, who died about five years ago, according to neighbors, adding that they saw no warning signs in the days leading up to her death. “She didn’t seem to be in distress or anything out of the ordinary,” one neighbor said, but added that she was often seen walking around the block muttering to herself.
No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). They can also be reached via crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by texting 274637 (CRIMES) followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
Domestic violence is a constant in New York City and surrounding areas, between relatives, roommates and partners, even with victims who are minors. Every day in NYC, an average of 747 incidents of domestic violence are reported – including assault, abuse, verbal abuse – and about 65 homicides annually.
Last month, four people – including two young children – were found stabbed to death in an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, and a relative was arrested for the crime. And this week, a 31-year-old man admitted to police that he stabbed his elderly father to death in their home in Ridgefield, a quiet Connecticut town that had not had a homicide for more than two decades, in 2003.
In July, Dimone Fleming was charged with killing her children at a Bronx shelter in 2022. Earlier that month, Romney Desronvil was charged with taking his 3-year-old twin sons from Queens to a beach in Connecticut with the intent to drown them, amid a bitter split from his wife.
Days earlier, a mother and her two babies were rushed to the hospital after being seriously injured with a knife in their home in East Orange, New Jersey.
In May, a mother was charged with beating her daughter to death in the Bronx, New Jersey, and a father in New Jersey faced trial accused of killing his 6-year-old son by abusing him because “the child was fat,” according to prosecutors.
Also that month, a Latino ex-convict was charged with fatally beating his mother in their Bronx (NYC) apartment. In April, a Hispanic man was charged with brutally killing his girlfriend in Harlem (NYC). It was later revealed that he had been deported for drug trafficking in 2002, but returned to the country, according to prosecutors.
In February, Lasasha Gouldbourne (31) was charged with involuntary manslaughter months after her newborn twin was found stuffed in a laundry bag in the Bronx (NYC). Days later, a man was charged with killing her sister by hitting her several times with a frying pan as she sat next to her father in a home in Erwin, New York.
Also that month, a 43-year-old Hispanic grandmother was shot dead by her partner, who then committed suicide in the victim’s apartment in Brooklyn (NYC). And a mother died and her two children were injured after a gunman shot them inside an apartment in the Bronx (NYC).
In January, a man was arrested one day after his mother’s funeral on suspicion of having strangled her in her home in Staten Island (NYC). Also that month, a woman was sentenced for the death of her twin babies in Long Island (NY). Days earlier, a Hispanic woman killed her daughters and her husband and then took her own life inside her home in Union (NJ) after receiving an eviction order, authorities reported.
If you are a victim or suspect that someone is being abused, especially if you are a minor or an elderly person:
Seek help
- Call 911, 988 or (800)-942-6906.
- Text “WELL” to 65173.
- Check information at https://nycwell.cityofnewyork.us/es/ and www.988lineadevida.org