Bronx family of three found dead in mystery homicide slaying. Bodies of Kayden Rivera, 5 year old boy, his mother, Hanoi Peralta inside apartment along with father, Jonathan Rivera found stabbed to death in lobby. No arrests.
A triple murder investigation is underway following the slain bodies of a 5 year old boy and his mother found stabbed to death inside their Bronx apartment along with the boy’s father’s body discovered in the building lobby.
Police were called to the home at 674 E. 136th St, Bronx, NY and discovered 38-year-old Jonathan Rivera with stab wounds to the chest in the hallway of the first floor of the Mott Haven apartment building at around 6.40am on Sunday, according to the NYPD.
As cops investigated the crime scene, a child was spotted in a nearby apartment unit and was identified as 5-year-old Kayden Rivera, 5. Upon entering the flat, 33-year-old, Hanoi Peralta, was also discovered inside with mortal stab wounds, with the family pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services. There are currently no suspects, with cops trying to determine the motive behind the stabbings.
‘Loud fighting and arguing and then it stopped’
Preliminary reports told of one neighbor hearing a scuffle then loud thuds emanating from the first floor late Saturday night, circa 11.30pm, while other residents didn’t recall hearing anything out of the ordinary.
Neighbour Paulette Williams said: ‘I heard people talking about they heard loud fighting and arguing, and then it stopped — and that’s when they found out they were dead.’
Explained, Jose Torres, the former building superintendent told the nypost, ‘I never had any problem with none of them.’
Dahan Ali, who owns a deli in the building, said she knew the victims who kept to themselves but were always pleasant as they headed to and from school. She said: ‘I would always see her every morning at 7, 7:30 when I came she would take her son to school, with her son every morning.’
‘I feel so terrible,’ Ali said. ‘So sad. She was here yesterday at 3 or 4. She was buying some things like normal. Very nice woman. Her husband, and her son, are all very nice people. I see them every day for the last year. Every morning she takes her son to school. Very beautiful boy, such a nice boy. Her husband comes in every day for coffee.’
No suspects or arrests
Akakpo Kodjogan, 62, who has been a longtime neighbour, said the apartment the slain family had lived in had previously belonged to the building’s superintendent.
‘New people in there and now I’m not sure who is living there. This building used to be very good. Very safe. No problems,’ Kodjogan said. ‘Now the people who are coming in, no one knows who they are.’
Another neighbor, a 41-year-old man who asked to not use his name, confirmed it was just the three people living in the super’s old apartment.
‘They’re quiet people… I don’t really know them that well,’ he said, noting that he would say ‘hi’ to them if he passed them in the hallway.
‘I was home all night and I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear no yelling, no screaming. I don’t know what happened but they didn’t make any noise,’ he added.
The medical examiner has determined the cause of death as a homicide. An investigation is continuing into a potential suspect.
Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to call the NYPD‘s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1–800–577–TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1–888–57–PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers‘ website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
