A 69-year-old Bronx woman was found stabbed to death in her basement apartment as gas from her stove filled the home Sunday evening, authorities said.
Investigators believe the killer intentionally tampered with Lilawatee Ramsaran’s stove after stabbing her multiple times inside her Cranford Avenue home in Wakefield.
Ramsaran’s shocked family gathered outside the house Monday afternoon, trying to process the news of her murder.
“It was my birthday yesterday, what a birthday present,” said her distraught nephew, Dave Samuel. “Whoever did this has to pay. I still can’t believe she’s gone.”
“We’re trying to make it seem … like it’s not real,” her grandson Anderson Samuel added. “We’re trying to figure this out.”
He added that his grandma had planned to return to her native country of Trinidad in the near future for a months-long vacation.
Firefighters showed up to the home around 9 p.m. to check on a report of a gas leak, officials said. When they entered the home, they found several candles burning inside the basement before blowing them out and discovering the woman’s body.
Police arrived on scene and found Ramsaran lying on the living room floor with several stab wounds to the back around 9:30 p.m., officials said.
Police are still investigating the incident. It wasn’t immediately known whether anything was taken from Ramsaran’s home. A motive for the killing was also unknown.
Neighbors reeled in shock Monday morning as they learned of the slaying.
“We use to talk over the fence,” next-door neighbor Liz Martinez said, holding back tears. “I’m just so upset because I can’t believe they killed her. She lived here a longtime. She said she was going to Trinidad. Oh my God. I’m in shock.”
“We use to ride on the bus to the city together,” said Martinez, who has lived in the neighborhood for over 40 years. “She worked at a foreign watch company.”
“She was a quiet person,” acquaintance Leslie Gordon said. “She was a good, quiet lady.”
“It looks to me like an inside job,” Gordon added, narrowing his eyes.
“There were tenants there over the weekend.”
Police spoke to two of Ramsaran’s tenants who lived in the apartment above her who said they didn’t see or hear anything unusual during the night.
One tenant, seen outside in her car, declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Emily Saul