Cop hangs self at mom’s home
A Valentine’s Day date turned scary when a Midtown woman’s online beau flashed a gun after she refused to have sex, and then fled her apartment with more than $8,000 in valuables.
Cops released surveillance footage (photo) of the suspect Monday in the hope someone may recognize the thief that bolted from the building on W. 47th St near Eighth Ave. in Manhattan.
The 27-year-old female victim told cops she was with the man at her apartment around 11 p.m. Friday after meeting on the website Gold Diggers. Things turned sour when she refused his sexual advances and a verbal argument
An elderly woman who went missing from her Bronx apartment Saturday apparently froze to death just a few blocks from her home, police said Monday.
The body of Genovera Madera, 73, was found about 3:30 p.m. Monday in a grassy area by the overpass where Jerome Ave. crosses above the Cross Bronx Expressway, near a playground, got physical, police sources said. At some point during the fight, the man took the woman’s purse containing her cell phone, cash and ID valued at more than $8,000 before fleeing on foot southbound down Eighth Ave., cops said.
The suspect is described between 30 and 40 years old with brown hair and a receding hairline. He’s seen on CCTV video wearing dark clothing, and carrying a cane and a white bag from Citarella Gourmet Market.
Cops are asking the public’s help identifying and tracking the man down. police said.
Madera suffered from dementia and lived alone in a first-floor apartment in Mt. Hope, on Walton Ave. near E. 176th St., a neighbor told the Daily News.
A home health aide helped her during the day, and her sister would visit to check on her, the neighbor said.
A veteran off-duty NYPD detective hanged himself at his mother’s home in Queens on Monday afternoon, police said.
Police found Detective Paul Federico, 53, about 12:30 p.m. on 59th St. in Middle Village.
His suicide is the first of the year involving an active-duty NYPD officer. Last year, the department grappled with 10 suicides, prompting leadership to step up its outreach for cops in distress.
Federico, who joined the NYPD in 1990, worked in the Central Park Precinct for more than 20 years, then joined the police commissioner’s liaison office when James O’Neill became top cop, sources said.
He had recently been placed on modified duty, meaning he was stripped of his shield and gun, though it wasn’t clear why, sources said. Once source said he was in a “funk” recently.
“He was very dedicated to the job and to the department. He will be sorely missed.” Paul DiGiacomo, Detectives’ Endowment Association president, said Monday.
Federico was instrumental in helping NYPD Auxiliary Officer Michael Dorian get benefits from the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund after Dorian learned he had Stage 4 skin cancer.
Dorian, a volunteer at the time who rushed to Ground Zero, couldn’t prove he was south of
Canal St. until Federico — who bonded with Dorian after he joined the NYPD auxiliary — helped track down a TV interview Dorian gave to an NBC 4 reporter at Ground Zero.
Federico was also diagnosed with Sept. 11-related cancer, and returned to work after having a kidney removed, sources said. He lived on Long Island, but stayed with his mother on weekends, his neighbors said.
“He seemed so happy. We never suspected anything like this,” said a next-door neighbor, who didn’t give his name.
Police shut down the block as they investigated Monday. A half-dozen people gathered in front of his mother’s house, embracing and crying.
The detective did not leave behind a note, sources said.