By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-12 23:22:23 | Updated at 2024-12-23 17:31:53
1 week ago
A deranged stalker who randomly killed a woman outside a Times Square hotel had followed her for a half-an-hour before fatally smothering her in trash bags, prosecutors revealed this week.
Jaheem Warren, 33, was arraigned on an indictment Wednesday for allegedly ambushing and killing 23-year-old Leslie Warren in front of the RIU Plaza New York Times Square Hotel on West 46th Street near Eighth Avenue the early morning of Oct. 29.
Prosecutors said that Warren first approached Torres around 4:20 a.m. – about a minute after she stepped out of her own building on West 45th Street – and struck up a conversation.
He followed her for about 25 minutes as she walked around Midtown, then grabbed her from behind and threw her face-first onto a pile of garbage bags outside the hotel around 4:45 a.m., the Manhattan DA’s Office said.
Warren climbed on top of the woman and held her face-down on the plastic bags, smothering her – then left her there until a passerby found her unconscious around 5:10 a.m., prosecutors said.
She was rushed to Mount Sinai West, where she was found to have no brain activity – and spent about a week on a ventilator in the ICU until she was pronounced dead on Nov. 4.
Warren, meanwhile, was arrested in his native New Jersey and charged with second-degree murder.
He disgustingly spat at a Post photographer and cursed as he was led cuffed onto Manhattan Central Booking on Nov. 12.
“Get the f–k out of my way,” he seethed.
Warren was ordered held without bail during his Supreme Criminal Court appearance, records show.
“Jaheem Warren allegedly stalked a young woman for 25 minutes on the streets of Manhattan before he brutally attacked her, throwing her onto a pile of garbage bags and suffocating her,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “This alleged conduct is abhorrent. People deserve to be safe when walking through Manhattan, and my Office will ensure accountability for those who commit horrific acts of violence.”
The accused killer has an extensive criminal history in New Jersey, records show. He served more than four years in prison after he was convicted in 2019 of drug dealing and money laundering, jail records show.
He was released in June 2023, but was back behind bars in November of that year and again charged with drug dealing. He was released on March 6.
