A 53-year-old Brooklyn man is the second to be charged with murder and other crimes in the gruesome death of a 74-year-old Manhattan woman whose own sister found her bound and gagged on the floor of her Upper West Side apartment last week, authorities said Wednesday.
Terrence Moore, of Dean Street, was arrested on one count of murder and two counts of burglary a day ago in the Jan. 18 killing of Maria Hernandez. The first arrest, that of another Brooklyn man, 47-year-old Lashawn Mackey of Bergen Street, came days after Hernandez's sister, Maria Terrero, found her in the West 83rd Street building where both lived.
Attorney information for the two accused men wasn't immediately clear, nor was it immediately clear who cops believe actually murdered Hernandez. Of Moore, police alleged Wednesday he was in the apartment at the time of the killing and contributed to her "demise."
Hernandez's apartment had also been ransacked. Investigators are still itemizing what was in the apartment, so it remains unclear exactly what was taken. Any potential motive in the case, along with details about what preceded the killing, as well as the suspects' connections to the victim, also are still under investigation.
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Authorities previously said Mackey may have worked in the building.
Terrero, who lived there, had gone upstairs to check on her sister after Hernandez's daughter called to say she had not heard from her mother. She described finding her sister as "the most terrifying moment of my life."
"I find her in the bedroom on the floor, her body covered with all this stuff, I almost can't see her. It's terrible, it's traumatizing, it's unbelievable," Terrero said in the aftermath.
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Police officials confirmed Hernandez was face down on the bedroom floor with clothes piled on top of her, officials told News 4. Her injuries included fractures and external bruising across her body. Autopsy results aren't yet released.
