(Washington Insider Magazine) María Hernández, a 74-year-old Dominican great-grandmother, was strangled and bound hand and foot inside the apartment where she lived alone in the UWS in Manhattan. There were no signs of forced entry, so she may have known her attacker.
Murder of María Hernández
Shock and mystery has been caused by the murder of María Hernández, a 74-year-old Dominican woman found dead with her hands and feet tied inside the apartment where she lived alone on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
The victim was found dead by her sister Wednesday night, hours after they attended a Broadway matinee show together and ate. Today the medical examiner announced that Hernández died of “homicidal asphyxia that included compression of the neck.” She also had fractures and bruises, police sources said.
The victim’s hands and feet were bound and she had a gag in her mouth when she was found on her bedroom floor, police said. She was pronounced dead inside her residence at 126 W. 83rd St. near Columbus Ave.
The Dominican immigrant had three daughters, eight grandchildren and a 1-year-old great-grandson, devastated relatives told the Daily News and New York Post.
“She was an excellent human being, a wonderful lady,” said her sister María Tirredo, 72, who found the body three hours after they both said goodbye. “Kind, loving, caring. Everything you can imagine that she would be a good person ”. She even thinks that she was attacked by mistake. “I think the person was looking for someone else.”
Tirredo also lives in the same building, but in a different apartment. She went to see her sister after her niece called her and told her that she couldn’t reach her mother.
Hernandez’s killer appeared to have searched through drawers in her bedroom, but it was not immediately clear if he had stolen anything. The cops believe that she died during the assault.
The building’s superintendent said someone used a crowbar to break into the basement and pull out a DVR with security footage to appear to remove leads. There were no signs of forced entry in the apartment, so Hernandez may have known her attacker, cops also speculated.
No arrests have been made. No arrests have been made or suspects identified. Anyone with information should call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and in Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Also through crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by text to 274637 (CRIMES), followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
In a similar case, last month a man turned himself in to the NYPD confessing that he had repeatedly stabbed 72-year-old Eugene Reba while visiting his Staten Island residence. That same week, a Hispanic man was arrested on suspicion of stabbing his mother to death in the kitchen of his house on Long Island (NY).
And in early November an elderly woman was found dead inside her Queens home during a welfare check and a 77-year-old man was taken into custody.
This article is authored by El Diario.