A retired New York City sanitation worker was found decapitated inside a Staten Island home Monday afternoon, New York police sources have said.
The grisly discovery was made around 4:30 p.m. on Cary Avenue in West Brighton.
The 45-year-old victim was found in a bathtub with multiple stab wounds to the head and neck. His head had been removed with a hacksaw, police sources told PIX11 News.
Investigators took the victim’s 19-year-old stepson into custody Monday. A motive has not been released, and it’s unknown what charges the suspect faces at this time.
The suspect has a history of mental illness and is believed to be schizophrenic, according to the property manager. He allegedly told his younger sister that he “did something bad” when she came home from school, sources told The New York Post.
According to the property manager, the victim was a retired employee of the New York Department of Sanitation. He was forced to go on disability due to severe vision loss, a friend of the victim told The Post.
Two of the victims’ friends, Louis Ortiz, 47, and Donna Ortiz, 46, told The Post they saw the news of the killing and rushed to his home.
“It’s a crime scene. It’s crazy,” Louis Ortiz said. “I can’t even believe I was looking at my friend’s house on the TV screen. And I had to get up and run over here because I didn’t want to believe that it was true until I saw it with my eyes.”
“This didn’t deserve to happen to him,” Donna Ortiz added. “He was just about to retire and live his life as best as he could.”
Mr Ortiz said the teenager who was taken into custody is the son of the victim’s girlfriend. Despite his reported mental health issues, the suspect was “sweet as pie” and frequently played video games with Donna Ortiz’s stepson, he said.
The couple, who used to work at a psychiatric center, said the city needed to improve how it handled individuals struggling with their mental health.
“The boy was always going through stuff in school. Mental health issues,” Louis said. “The city got to do more with mental health.”
“He’d be alive right now if the city dealt with mental health,” Donna added about their friend.