The home on 35th Avenue and 102nd Street in Corona where a person was fatally stabbed on Sunday morning.
Photo by Dean Moses
A 16-year-old Corona boy who was taken into custody for questioning after a housemate was fatally stabbed on Sunday morning was arrested hours later and booked at the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights, where he was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
The teenager, who was not identified because he is a minor, is awaiting his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.
Police from the 115th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a person stabbed at a home near the corner of 35th Avenue and 102nd Street in Corona just after 6 a.m. on Jan. 26.
Upon arrival, the officers discovered 24-year-old Byron Lema-Naula inside the 35th Avenue residence, unconscious and unresponsive, with a stab wound to the neck.
EMS responded to the location and rushed Lema-Naula to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short while later.
Cops say a knife was recovered at the scene, and the teen was taken into custody and taken to the 115th, where he was questioned and placed under arrest around 4:30 p.m. He was charged with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the 4th degree, police said.
Sources familiar with the investigation reported that Lema-Naula is believed to have been renting a room inside the household from the suspect’s family at the time of his murder. Both the victim and the teen male suspect, who is related to the family subletting the room to Lema-Naula, apparently got into a dispute moments before the bloodshed, the sources said. It is not immediately clear what sparked the deadly argument.
Neighbors claimed that a new landlord bought the home recently and began renting out rooms to young tenants. However, they also said the house has become a revolving door of new faces.
Sunday’s murder was a surprise to locals.
“We came out, we saw some police officers. Personally, for me, it’s super sad and it’s crazy. We don’t know exactly what the problem was that led to the death,” said 22-year-old Scarlett Astudillo. “It’s crazy.”
Additional reporting by Dean Moses.
