N.Y. death suspect indicted in Phoenix stabbings

PHOENIX — A suspect in the killing of a woman at a New York City hotel earlier this month was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury in Arizona’s most populous county in the subsequent stabbing attacks of two women in the Phoenix area.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s office announced Raad Almansoori, 26, was indicted on two counts each of attempted first degree murder, aggravated assault, attempted sexual assault and one count each of attempted armed robbery and theft of means of transportation.

Almansoori is suspected of stabbing an 18-year-old woman at least three times in the neck in a Mcdonald’s restaurant bathroom in Surprise. Phoenix police have also named Almansoori a suspect in the attack a day earlier on a woman who was stabbed in her car in that city.

The women in both Arizona attacks survived, but New York police say Almansoori is a suspect in the killing of a woman in that city earlier in the month. The body of Denisse Oleas-arancibia was found by staff on the floor of a hotel room. Officers said her death was determined to have been caused by blunt force trauma to the head and a broken clothes iron was found nearby.

The Arizona Republic reported earlier Tuesday that Surprise police Detective Jeremy Goebel testified during a Monday hearing that Almansoori told him he wanted to rape and kill sex workers, and kill members of his own family.

Almansoori’s defense attorney Dakota Johnson said his client was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and reported hearing voices in the past.

The Arizona case has sparked a political feud between Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a Republican, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.