Man Confesses To Killing New School Professor, City Records Show

DITMAS PARK, BROOKLYN — A bio lab assistant confessed to fatally stabbing a New School professor to death in his Ditmas Park home, city records show.

Mirzo Atadzhanov, the 28-year-old man whom police found drenched in blood in the home of psychology professor Jeremy Safran, told investigators he stabbed the psychology professor in the stomach and chest, according to the criminal complaint released by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

Atadzhanov, who said he lurked in the basement before stabbing Safran, was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court Wednesday afternoon and charged with three counts of murder and two counts of burglary, city records show.

The Brooklyn man was arrested Tuesday evening after police found the New School professor dead in his Stratford Road home and Atadzhanov hiding in a closet, police said.

Before the attack, Safran's neighbor and the mother of murder suspect John Giuca saw a man pacing outside the home, the New York Post reported.

Doreen Giuliano texted Safran’s wife Tuesday evening when she saw someone creep up the walkway and sneak into the side door of the Stratford Road house, she told the Post.

Jennifer Hunter, Safron’s wife, grabbed her daughter and met Giuliano outside their home, the neighbor said. When Giuliano tried to alert Hunter to the danger, the professor’s wife gave her an odd reply, Giuliano said.

“‘Jeremy is around here somewhere,’” Hunter reportedly said.

“I had to curse to wake her up [saying], ‘There’s somebody in your f–king house!’” Giuliano said. “Meanwhile, he was in there killing Jeremy.”

Safran was described by the New School as "an internationally renowned psychotherapist’ who had recently been honored with the Society for Psychotherapy Research Distinguished Research Career Award.

Atadzhanov has a degree in biology from Brooklyn College, where he works as a lab assistant and where Safran’s wife works in the student counseling center, according to the New York Times.

The bio lab worker was previously arrested and charged with attempted rape in 2016 after a couchsurfing.com user accused him of trying to assault her in his home, the Daily News first reported. The charges were later dismissed.

Atadzhanov wrote on his WayUp.com page that he is an “advanced chess player” who taught the game to young students in Tajikistan.

Photo courtesy of the New School