Queens Man Charged With Murder of Estranged Wife: 24-Year-Old Woman Stabbed About 40 Times as Toddler Son Was Home
NEW YORK — The Queens County District Attorney's Office announced on October 29 that Angel Apodaca of Richmond Hill has been charged with murder in the death of his estranged wife, 24-year-old Tania Morales Garcia. Prosecutors said Apodaca went to her Kew Gardens Hills apartment, where she lived with the couple's 2-year-old son, and allegedly stabbed her multiple times.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said that, as alleged, Apodaca ruthlessly stabbed his estranged wife approximately 40 times, and that the senseless brutality was carried out while the couple's 2-year-old son was in the home. She said the office's thoughts are with Morales Garcia's loved ones as it seeks justice on her behalf.
Apodaca, 22, of Richmond Hill, was arraigned on a criminal complaint charging him with murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and endangering the welfare of a child. Queens Supreme Criminal Court Judge Thomas Wright-Fernandez remanded him and ordered him to return to court on November 1. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.
According to the charges and the investigation, on October 26, between approximately 7 p.m. and 8:40 p.m., Apodaca stabbed Morales Garcia to death in her apartment on Park Drive East in Kew Gardens Hills, while the couple's 2-year-old son was at home. Police received multiple 911 calls directing them to the apartment. When NYPD officers arrived, they found Morales Garcia lying unresponsive in a pool of blood in the bedroom, with multiple stab wounds to her head and body and slash wounds on her arms.
The defendant was present in the apartment, with cuts on his hands and blood on his clothing, and the 2-year-old son was also in the apartment with blood on his clothing. Morales Garcia was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead from injuries that included approximately 40 stab wounds, a majority of them to her back. The child was evaluated at a local hospital and was determined to have no physical injuries. A knife with blood on it was recovered from a dresser, and Apodaca was taken to a local hospital for treatment of the cuts on his hands.
The investigation was conducted by Detective Abigail Soto of the 107th Precinct Detective Squad and Detective Anthony Faranda of the Queens South Homicide Squad. Assistant District Attorney Samantha Delao of the District Attorney's Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Caitlyn Muldoon. The District Attorney's Office noted that criminal complaints are accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 纽约 Queens 区 Kew Gardens 的 Queens 区政厅（案件在 Queens 刑事法院过堂，资料图）。Wasted Time R 摄，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York (file photo). Photo by Wasted Time R, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
