What led to Geetha Howie a 63 year old Staten Island woman being stabbed to death outside of her home by stranger. Did suspect and victim know each other?
Geetha Howie a 63 year old Staten Island woman has died after being stabbed to death outside her home by stranger. The attack also led to a neighbor who sought to help the woman being slashed as well.
Police sources and witnesses told of the 27 year old attacker, identified as local man, Dantey Moore repeatedly knifing the grandmother in her face and chest, then cradled his victim’s bloody body until police arrived.
Despite Howie being rushed to Richmond University Medical Center following Monday afternoon’s seemingly random attack, Geetha did not survive her injuries, reported pix11.com.
In the aftermath of the attack, police were seeking to determine if the suspect, who lives a few blocks from the attack at Bement Ave. and Bement Court in Randall Manor, had any connection to Howie.
Police later told of Dantey Moore having been arrested 34 times since 2007, with the man arrested in several domestic violence-related incidents.
Geetha Howie attacker after stabbing his victim then began to cradle her:
Mark Long, 56, the neighbor who tried to stop the attack, said he heard screaming at about 2:15 p.m. and went outside to a horrific sight.
Told Long via the nydailynews, ‘The hand was going up and down … his hand was holding a knife and that’s when I realized he’s stabbing and I said, ‘Hey, stop!’’
‘The guy stood up, he lunged at me, swung his knife out. He scored me in the arm.’
Long and the attacker backed up and faced each other the tabloid reported.
‘All I could think about is keeping his attention away from the woman. I just kept asking him, ‘’What’s going on? What are you doing? Why are you hurting her?’’ Long said.
‘He didn’t really say anything to me at first and finally he said, ‘She cheated, she cheated with everyone,’ and I didn’t really know what that meant.’
That’s when the attacker dropped his knife, crouched down behind Howie and held her, Long said.
Adding, ‘He just bent over and put his arms around her and he just stayed there until police and the ambulance showed up’.
Long said he continued to maintain his vigilance, ‘keeping one eye on the suspect, the other on the knife, in case the man made another lunge for it.’
Adding, ‘At one point, he was trying to cradle her with her head in his lap’.
Responding police separated the suspect and Howie. With Howie declared dead one hour later. Charges against the attacker were pending, with police declining not to release the assailant’s name.
Of note, Moore suffered from bouts of rage, and had been hospitalized for abusing the drug angel dust, according to two of the man’s sisters.
‘His anger was just building, building,’ said sibling, Cynthia Toye, 23 via the nydailynews. Recently, she added, her brother had been fighting with his girlfriend.
It wasn’t clear if the suspect had been under the influence and what his immediate movements were prior to the attack on Howie.
That said, nycbslocal cited Howie’s family saying Geetha having just left the bank when she encountered the alleged killer. One relative believes it was a robbery-gone-wrong.
In the aftermath of the attack on Howie, family expressed shock and dismay.
‘It’s just a rough situation,’ said her son-in-law, Daniel Fazzina. ‘She was an amazing woman. She loved her granddaughter.’
Adding, ‘We have a three-year-old daughter who she absolutely loves. It was her granddaughter. They were just inseparable.’
Howie worked as a lab technician, and was getting ready to start a new job in New Jersey, the son in law told.
‘She loves to cook meals for her family. That’s the way she showed love. She loved to serve her family,’ he said. ‘It’s a senseless tragedy.’
27 year Dantey Moore has been charged with murder after police say he stabbed 63 year old Geetha Howie more than a dozen times. No known motive but the suspect might’ve been under the influence of drugs. @ABC7NY pic.twitter.com/flqE5tyBMg
— Candace McCowan (@CandaceMcCowan7) November 28, 2017
STATEN ISLAND STABBING: 63 year old grandmother stabbed to death in broad daylight. Suspect randomly killed Geetha Howie as she walked home, Monday then cradled her body. Police arrested suspect on scene. pic.twitter.com/LC4NwzffBH
— Anthony DiLorenzo (@ADiLorenzoTV) November 28, 2017
