Police have identified the three relatives, all women, who were killed in a gruesome triple murder allegedly at the hands of a 22-year-old family member inside a Queens home last week.
Hyacinth Brown-Johnson was the oldest victim to have been found inside the home on 182nd Street in Springfield Gardens on Nov. 18. The 65-year-old was the mother and stepmother to 47-year-old Latoya Gordon and 26-year-old Patrice Johnson, respectively.
All three women had been stabbed in the neck at the family's home, cops said. A home health aide helping the youngest victim, who had cerebral palsy and was bedbound, found the bodies, police said. It remains unclear what motivated the killings.
Police identified the victims Tuesday after the suspected killer, Jabari Burrell, was apprehended hundreds of miles away, out of gas on the side of the road and covered in blood, a senior law enforcement official said.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
State police in Virginia found Burrell hours after he allegedly stole the minivan belonging to one of his victims and fled south in the middle of the night. Local authorities found him inside the vehicle off Interstate 95 in Prince George County, the official said.
Injured and covered in blood, he was taken to a hospital to be treated. In the meantime, homicide detectives from the NYPD traveled down to Virginia to question the Queens man.
Speaking to the investigators, Burrell reportedly admitted to the stabbings of three women and described in detail the how he attacked the victims, the official said. He was still awaiting extradition back to New York City.
A senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the case says the attack appears to be domestic in nature, an isolated incident with no further threat to the neighboring community.
There was no known history of domestic violence at the address, the official said. All three women were believed to have lived at the three-unit home at the time they died.
Mayor Eric Adams stopped by the scene Friday afternoon to speak to investigators as they, and family members, try to piece together what happened. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death for each victim.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
