Gabriel Cabral made 'admissions' in Deer Park killing of his mom, prosecutor says at arraignment
Suffolk police in Deer Park investigate at the scene of the killing Wednesday. Credit: Howard Schnapp
A Brooklyn man repeatedly stabbed his mother in the head inside her Deer Park apartment Wednesday and has made “admissions” about killing her, a Suffolk prosecutor alleged at the defendant’s murder arraignment Friday.
Police found a knife blade lodged in victim Olga Cardona Ortiz’s body and the weapon’s handle under one of her arms after a 911 call brought them to the slaying scene, prosecutor Laura Newcombe also told a judge.
“The defendant did make admissions to the fact that he killed his mother,” she added during Gabriel Cabral's arraignment on a second-degree murder count.
A lawyer for Cabral, 33, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf during the Central Islip court proceeding.
Defense attorney Danielle Coysh also said she would reserve the right to ask for bail in the future for the defendant, whose surname authorities first released as Cabral-Cardona.
Suffolk District Court Judge Alonzo Jacobs remanded Cabral to jail without bail after a request from Newcombe that he do so.
The judge said that while the defendant had no criminal record and was presumed innocent, the prosecution had “what looks to be a fairly solid case.”
Coysh declined to comment on the case after court. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office also didn’t comment on the case after Friday’s arraignment.
Newcombe told the judge during the court proceeding that the landlady of the victim, who was 54, made the 911 call after hearing screams.
The victim was preparing breakfast about 7 a.m. when her son attacked her, and an autopsy Thursday showed she suffered multiple stab wounds and a hyoid bone injury “which would indicate strangulation as well,” the prosecutor said.
Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison said at a news conference outside the victim’s West 23rd Street apartment Wednesday that officers found her “on the floor covered in blood” after the stabbing attack.
Harrison said she died at the scene. Police initially identified the victim as Olga Cardona-Hernandez.
The defendant also was still at the stabbing scene upon the arrival of police, according to authorities, who said they arrested him and took him to a hospital for treatment of minor cuts.
Police said Cabral had come to his mother's home from Brooklyn on Tuesday evening, and that there was no history of police responses to the location.
The defendant is due back in court on Nov. 21.
