A mother of six was found dead with her throat slashed on a Brooklyn street yesterday morning, authorities said, leaving the woman’s family baffled.
Maria Monti, 45, was discovered face down in front of 216 Rockaway Ave. in Ocean Hill at 8:20 a.m., police said.
When cops first arrived, they could not figure how the woman died, but when they turned her body over they saw the gash across her throat, according to a law-enforcement source.
It is unclear why the woman was killed and police are still trying to find witnesses who may have seen Monti or her attacker before she died.
“I don’t understand why it happened to her,” said Monti’s son, David, 17. “I thought she would die old and happy.
“I don’t know how such a thing could happen.”
Monti, who lives on Almeda Avenue in Far Rockaway, was last seen at 4 p.m. Friday. “She went to meet a friend and stayed out,” said Monti’s son, Marco, 20. “It was very unlikely for her to stay out without a phone call and to be out the whole night.”
Monti, who lost her husband to a heart attack two years ago, has two children in the Army.
Her son Manuel, 23, is serving with the Army in Iraq and her daughter Danielle, 19, is stationed at a Texas Army base.
As of last night, Manuel had not been notified of his mother’s death, David Monti said.
“She was worried about him going to the Army, especially when he went to Iraq,” he said. “He’s been in the service for five years.
Friends and relatives said Danielle, who enlisted Oct. 7, her mom’s birthday, plans to return home to care for brother Devon, 12, and sister Daneen, 11.
“We’re all really close,” Marco Monti said. “We all stuck together.
“We’re going to [stay] here. There’s no way I can leave my mother’s house.”
David Monti said he has shelved his own plans to enlist in the Army so he can be around for his family. “I thought about going to the military, but it’s more important for me to stay here for my younger siblings.” The children said their mother, a gift wrapper at Fortunoff, dedicated much of her free time doing volunteer work at schools and elsewhere in the community.
“She was well-liked,” Marco Monti said. “A lot of people knew her.”
The heartbroken son made a plea to the public for help.
“We want any information that can help in an arrest,” he said. “We just want this person to come forward.”