Suspect in triple slaying put on suicide watch

A man who stabbed his wife to death told authorities he also killed his two toddlers because he didn't have car seats to take them on the lam to Mexico, prosecutors said Thursday as he was charged with murder.

Miguel Mejia-Ramos did not speak at his court appearance and was placed on suicide watch afterward. He was being held without bail in the deaths of Deisy Garcia, 23, Yoselin Mejia, 1, and Daniela Mejia, 2. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mejia-Ramos had been out drinking at a friend's house on Sunday, authorities said. He came home, rifled through his wife's phone and Facebook account, and snapped when he saw a photo of her with another man, prosecutors said.

He pulled a knife from a butcher block as his sleeping wife awoke, chased her from her bed and stabbed her to death, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. He then hugged and kissed his daughters before stabbing them, too, Brown said. Five bloody knives were recovered, he said.

Prosecutors said Mejia-Ramos tried to kill himself after the brutal attack but didn't go through with it.