Suspect in NYC stabbings of homeless men held without bail

A Tennessee man was ordered held without bail Thursday after he was arraigned on murder and attempted murder charges stemming from stabbing attacks on three homeless men.

Prosecutors told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Nestor Diaz that 40 year-old Trevon Murphy was a flight risk and admitted details of the crimes to police.

Murphy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and himself is homeless, was arrested early Wednesday without incident in upper Manhattan after an alert good Samaritan recognized him from widely distributed surveillance videos and tipped off two uniformed officers.

After Murphy was taken into custody, police said he waived his Miranda rights and spoke freely to detectives about the alleged attacks that occurred between July 5 and July 11 at three different locations as his victims slept.

In the July 5 incident, a 34-year-old man was lying on a bench at West 11th Street and the Hudson River Park walkway when Murphy allegedly stabbed him in the stomach. The victim, who has not been identified by police, died in the hospital.

In two other attacks, one involving a 59 year-old man and the other a 28 year-old man, the victims were stabbed in the abdomen but survived and remain in stable condition, police said.

A law enforcement official who didn’t want to be identified said Murphy indicated during his questioning by detectives that he carried out the attacks because he thought the victims in the past had wanted to assault him.

The knife allegedly used in the attacks was found in Murphy’s pants pocket and was undergoing analysis to determine if it contained DNA, according to police.

In court, prosecutors said that Murphy told cops about how he made a calculated decision on where to attack his victims.

“[Murphy] gave many other details about the crimes, such as how he chose the same location on each victim, the lower abdomen, because it was his ‘stabber’s choice,’” assistant district attorney Shilpa Kaira said.

Defense attorney Daniel Scott told Newsday that Murphy entered a not guilty plea during the arraignment but he declined to comment further.

In arguing against bail, Kaira said Murphy acknowledged not having close friends or family in New York and no permanent address. He also hasn’t been undergoing counseling, Kaira added.

The next court date in the case is set for July 18.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.