126 West 83rd Street (Google Maps)
On Wednesday, January 18 at about 9:55 p.m., police responded to a call of an unconscious woman in a third floor apartment at 126 West 83rd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues.
Maria Hernandez, 74, was found “unconscious and unresponsive within the apartment, her hands and feet tied, with no other obvious signs of trauma observed,” police say.
EMS was called to the location and pronounced Hernandez deceased at the scene.
On Friday morning, the incident was officially deemed a homicide.
On Saturday, NYPD officials announced the arrest of Lashawn Mackey, a 47-year-old Brooklyn resident, for Hernandez’s murder.
Mackey’s charges include murder, attempted murder, and two counts of burglary.
He “may have worked in the same building where she was discovered,” reports NBC.
According to public records, Mackey was arrested in August 2022 on charges of grand larceny, petit larceny, and burglary in the third degree.
Here’s an update from ABC New York, which reports the suspect is in fact a building worker:
I bet nobody asked Ms. Hernandez or even informed her that a violent ex-con was given access by other people to her home. Why does the murderer’s rights outweigh the rights of a single woman to live in peace and comfort? Why was this guy plucked from Brooklyn and brought here? I hope her family sues and the program is shut down. Some violent ex-con will have to live without his minimum wage cleaning job.
Think about this when politicians push removing criminal background checks from employment applications.
The judge who let him out of jail should be put in prison!!!
Yes, or at least named.