With no arrests two weeks after the murder of a 29-year-old Staten Island woman, her parents are speaking out and asking the public for help finding their daughter's killer.
"Everybody in Staten Island needs to know this murderer is on the loose," said Theresa Mapes, the mother of Simeonette Mapes-Crupi, who was stabbed to death in her New Springville Condo. "We have to work together as a family to try to catch this person."
Police found Mapes-Crupi face down in her home on July 5. She had been stabbed 15 times. Her husband, Jonathan Crupi, told police he had spent the day at the school in Brooklyn where he and his wife both worked as teachers and returned home to discover his wife dead. The couple was two days away from their fifth wedding anniversary.
Police have not named Crupi as a suspect, though he has since retained a lawyer and refused to comment on his wife's death.
For Mapes-Crupi's parents the grief of losing their only daughter remains fresh.
"I remember my daughter's laughter and her smile," said her father, John Mapes, choking back tears.
Her mother, meanwhile, had a message for her daughter's killer: "I will find you, I will get you, you will pay. It's not going to bring my daughter back, but she will know that her mother will not leave any stone unturned until I get you."
Anyone with information about the murder is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477). Tipsters also can log onto www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or send information via text message by texting 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577.
They can also reach out to the 122nd Precinct Detective Squad at 718-667-2250.
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