By Rebecca Henely
A 33-year-old Elmhurst woman who had roots in the Bronx was fatally stabbed Monday night allegedly by a man who neighbors said was her boyfriend.
Police found Luz Paulino with multiple stab wounds throughout her body at the apartment complex at 40-05 Hampton St. in Elmhurst shortly after receiving a 911 call at 10:50 p.m. EMS workers took Paulino to Elmhurst Hospital Center a few blocks away, but she was later pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.
The NYPD was still investigating the incident and had not made any arrests or named any suspects as press time, but some neighbors said they had heard the assailant was Paulino’s boyfriend.
Ana Ramirez, 51, who lives in another apartment complex on Hampton Street, said Paulino had lived on the seventh floor of 40-05 Hampton St. with her boyfriend. She said both were Dominican and had family in the Bronx. They also have a 7-year-old son who is staying with his grandmother in Santo Domingo.
“He’s nice,” Ramirez said of Paulino’s boyfriend. “I can’t believe it.”
A police officer said the killer left the apartment complex sometime after the stabbing and went to the deli Jazmina Grocery on Hampton Street for a beer, his clothing still stained with blood.
“No remorse, huh?” the officer remarked.
The man working behind the counter of the deli Tuesday morning had no information on the stabbing or the assailant.
Ramirez said she came back to Hampton Street around 11 p.m. and found the street filled with people. She said her neighbors at 40-05 Hampton St. said there was blood throughout the building.
“My friend called me and said, ‘I can’t come out. The elevator … too much blood,’” Ramirez said.
Ramirez said the assailant was a cashier at a Peruvian restaurant at the corner of 82nd Street and Roosevelt Avenue, but employees could not confirm that he worked there.
Another neighbor, who declined to give her name, said the slaying was a shock to the neighborhood.
“This place was very quiet, very nice, and these days everything is upside-down,” she said.
The 110th Precinct, which encompasses Elmhurst and Corona below Roosevelt Avenue, had reported four murders previously this year, according to police statistics. Last year only two murders occurred in the precinct.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
