Yonkers Man Admits Fatally Stabbing 68-Year-Old In Her Home: YPD

YONKERS, NY — Yonkers police have charged a 21-year-old man in the stabbing death of a senior citizen in her home.

On Thursday, shortly before 1:30 p.m., Yonkers Police were called to an apartment on Nepperhan Ave. after receiving reports of a dead woman. First responders found an elderly woman on the floor dead and surrounded by blood spatter. The victim had sustained multiple stab wounds, according to investigators.

There was no one else present in the apartment.

Major Case Squad and Crime Scene Unit detectives headed up the investigation. They learned that the victim, later identified as 68-year-old Renee Spencer, and a male suspect identified as Deshawn Nunez, entered the building together on Tuesday night. Nunez left the building by himself approximately 90 minutes later, according to police.

On Thursday, one of Spencer's family members called building management to check in on her after not hearing from the elderly woman for days. This led to the discovery of the crime scene.

On Wednesday evening, a day after the murder but before its discovery, patrol officers from the 3rd Precinct encountered Nunez loitering in the area of 372 Riverdale Ave. He was known to the officers and they had information that he had multiple active warrants and was violating a stay-away order of protection at the location. The police officers placed Nunez into custody without incident.

The police believe that Nunez and Spencer knew each other. Investigators suspect he stabbed her multiple times in the torso with a kitchen knife recovered at the scene. Nunez made spontaneous statements implicating himself in the murder, according to detectives who said Nunez's motivation may have been retaliation for perceived slights in the past involving Spencer's relatives.

"This most heinous of crimes, perpetrated upon a defenseless older woman, is horrific and unimaginable. People who commit extreme acts of violence must be met with extreme acts of justice under the law – alleged criminals like Deshawn Nunez, when found guilty, must never be allowed to harm anyone else again," Commissioner Chris Sapienza said in a statement. "I applaud the excellent work by our Police Officers and Detectives in removing this violent individual from our community."

Nunez was booked on one count of Murder. At the time of his arrest, he had one active arrest warrant and three active bench warrants for charges including burglary, assault, aggravated harassment, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon for incidents unrelated to this case, police said.