Man Arrested In Far Rockaway Stabbing No Longer Faces Charges: DA

FAR ROCKAWAY, QUEENS — The Far Rockaway man once suspected of fatally stabbing another man last week is no longer facing charges in the killing, the Queens District Attorney's Office said.

The NYPD said Anthony Fraser, 28, was arrested last Friday in connection with the Jan. 24 death of Victor Cordero, 41, whom police found stabbed in the torso in an apartment building on Seagirt Avenue.

Police said last week that Fraser was charged with manslaughter, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. But he "was not arraigned and there are currently no charges pending against him related to this matter," Ikimulisa Livingston, a spokeswoman for the DA's office, said in an email Friday.

Livingston said the investigation was ongoing as of Friday, but did not say why Fraser is no longer facing charges.

The change in the case frustrated Cordero's widow, who said she doubts the NYPD's claims that the death involved a love triangle between Cordero, Fraser and another woman.

"Somebody has to pay for my husband's death," said Roxanne Cordero, 42. "They didn’t just take a human life. They took a father, they took an uncle, a godfather, a brother, a son, a husband."

Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea reportedly said last week that Victor Cordero was stabbed during a violent fight with the ex-boyfriend of a woman. Cordero was reportedly believed to be her new boyfriend.

But Roxanne Cordero said her late husband worked with the other two people at Costco, where he was a manager. She thinks he went to the woman's apartment after getting off work to discuss business, she said.

"We didn’t have no problems in our marriage. We was in a good place," she said, adding that he had been in good spirits earlier in the evening.

"He didn’t go over there to fight. He didn’t go over there to die. He didn’t go over there angry," she said.

The Corderos were married for 23 years and had four children together, according to Roxanne. Victor was involved with softball leagues in Far Rockaway in addition to his job at Costco, where he had been promoted twice in seven years, she said.

His death has been difficult for their children, one of whom is just 2 years old, Roxanne Cordero said.

"The baby says 'daddy' all day," she said. "The other kids, they're older, they can manage. But they’re still devastated. My daughter hasn’t left the house."

Shea said the fight that led to Cordero's death was caught on video, according to the New York Daily News. Roxanne said she wanted to see the video for herself, but police would not show it to her because it's "so violent."

"He had goals. He had ambition. He had so much other plans," she said of her husband. "He had so much plans that this is not the way he wanted to go out."

The NYPD did not respond to an email asking why it would not release the video to Roxanne Cordero. Fraser could not be reached at several phone numbers listed under his name.

(Lead image: Victor Cordero was found stabbed in the torso in an apartment building on Seagirt Avenue. Image from Google Maps)