What to Know
- A 73-year-old man has been charged in the killing of his 61-year-old girlfriend in Queens earlier this month
- Prosecutors say the woman was found dead and bloody on top of her bed in the couple's basement apartment
- The suspect had been in Bellevue Hospital after threatening to jump from a balcony of his lawyer's office
A 73-year-old man has been charged in the bludgeoning death of his 61-year-old girlfriend, who was found cut and bleeding on top of her bed in the basement apartment the couple shared in Queens earlier this month, prosecutors say.
Police found the victim's body in the two-bedroom apartment she rented with her boyfriend and a third roommate in Fresh Meadows on Aug. 1, after getting a call from the man's lawyer, prosecutors said.
Police found the body of Huizhen Zhan on the bed in the back bedroom, covered with a blood-soaked sheet. There was blood on the walls and ceiling, and broken glass on the bed, according to prosecutors. The bathroom attached to the bedroom was splattered with blood in the shower stall, the stall door and the toilet.
The suspect, Chitwah Tse, had allegedly met two relatives in Manhattan's Chinatown earlier in the evening and told them, "I am sorry for all that I have done. I don't know if I'll ever see you again."
The medical examiner's officer determined Zhan's death a homicide due to blunt force trauma to the head.
On Aug. 3, members of the NYPD's hostage negotiation team were called to Tse's lawyer's offices at 401 Broadway in Manhattan and found the suspect threatening to jump from a balcony railing on the 22nd floor.
Local
After four hours of negotiation, members of the NYPD's ESU and the hostage negotiation team grabbed Tse, pulled him over the railing and brought him inside the building. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
Tse was arraigned Tuesday night on a charge of second-degree murder and was remanded back to jail without bail. He's scheduled to return to court on Sept. 27.
Attorney information for Tse wasn't immediately available.
