Girlfriend, two tenants stabbed to death by NYC landlord who confessed he ‘did something bad’: NYPD
A Queens landlord stabbed his girlfriend and two tenants to death — then walked into an NYPD stationhouse and confessed he “did something bad” Tuesday, police officials said.
David Daniel, 54, showed up at the 113th Precinct stationhouse at around 7:15 a.m. and told an officer that he was “having issues” with his tenants, who were late on their rent, according to NYPD officials.
“I did something bad,” he allegedly said.
“At that point, a lieutenant at the desk hears what’s going on, walks over and activates his body-worn camera,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny recounted later Tuesday.
Daniel “said that he killed three people and he gave the location and that he left the backdoor open,” Kenny told reporters.
The alleged killer appeared “calm” as he gave cops the address of his home on Millburn Street, a pale green clapboard-style single-family house in the St. Albans neighborhood.
Officers then raced to the home on the quiet, leafy dead-end street — where they made the gruesome discovery.
The lifeless body of the accused killer’s girlfriend was found in an upstairs bedroom in the home, cops said.
The tenants — a man and a woman — were found together face-up in a basement bedroom, according to police officials.
In his alleged confession, Daniel told cops “that he had problems with his girlfriend and that the two [people] in the basement had not been paying their rent,” Kenny said.
It’s unclear how long the tenants had been living there and how far behind on rent they were.
Daniel “didn’t appear to be bloody” when he showed up at the stationhouse, Kenny said, describing his demeanor there as “very matter of fact.”
“He just wanted to tell his story,” Kenny said.
The names and ages of the victims were not made public, as cops were still working to notify their families of their deaths, Kenny said.
“It’s still under investigation,” the chief said. “We’re still executing search warrants. We’re still making notifications to victims’ families and that’s where we’re at right now.”
Daniel was arrested and charged with murder, Kenny said.
He has no criminal record, and cops said there was no history of 911 calls to his address.
Police said the murder weapon had not yet been recovered.
“He seemed like a calm, nice person,” said a neighbor who only identified herself as Teri, describing Daniel as usually “very polite” and saying she was “in shock” over the slayings.
Another woman who lives in the neighborhood told The Post that her encounters with Daniel were only ever “positive,” saying the few times the two spoke casually he always asked how she was feeling and about her family.
“I’m completely shocked by this. I never heard about any disputes he had with his tenants,” she said.
“He doesn’t seem like that kind of person. He just bottled up his anger really well, but eventually it escaped and now three people are dead.”
Neighbor Felix Smith wondered, “Why would he kill them?
“Why would he do such a thing and then turn himself in?” Smith said. “Their lives are lost.”
Another neighbor said he got a “strange vibe” from Daniel.
“He is friendly to some people, not friendly to others. I’m in the second category and I don’t know why. He’s just very standoffish to me,” said the man, who asked to remain anonymous.
“I don’t interpret this to mean that he’d kill somebody,” he said. “But let’s put it this way. If you told me one person on the block has the capacity to kill someone and I had to guess who, my guess would be him.”
Additional reporting by Snejana Farberov
