Queens

‘I'm Dying, Leave:' NYC Mom Stabbed 14 Times as Helpless Daughter Watches in Horror

The 45-year-old woman was found dead in a pool of blood with the suspect lying on top of her when cops arrived, officials said; she had been stabbed 14 times

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A Queens man has been charged with stabbing his 45-year-old girlfriend to death -- brutally knifing her in the chest, neck and torso -- as the woman's daughter watched in horror, authorities say.

Carmelo Mendoza, 41, stabbed himself multiple times in the stomach after the argument at his Jackson Heights apartment last Friday, prosecutors say. He remains hospitalized but has been charged with murder and other crimes in the death of Yaqueline Collado.

Prosecutors say Collado was stabbed a total of 14 times. It wasn't clear what prompted the early morning argument on July 3. At some point, Collado told her 19-year-old daughter, who also lives in the apartment, to leave so she wouldn't hear them fighting, according to the criminal complaint.

The daughter was in her room when she heard her mother scream her name, prosecutors say. She ran out and rushed toward her mother and Mendoza.

She allegedly saw Mendoza stab her mom repeatedly and tried to push him off her, even resorting to throwing various items at him to get him to stop. Mendoza fell to the floor at one point but got back up and allegedly continued the stabbing attack, prosecutors say.

The daughter then heard her mother say to her, in Spanish, “I’m dying, leave.”
The young woman, whose leg was slashed when she tried to intervene,
then ran out of the apartment and began banging on her neighbors' doors, screaming for help, according to prosecutors. She then called her boyfriend and 911. When cops arrived, they found Mendoza lying on top of the victim, who was dead, in a pool of blood, with a kitchen knife nearby.

Mendoza faces up to life in prison if convicted. Information on a possible attorney for him wasn't immediately available.

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