Prosecutors announced Tuesday that a Harlem woman has been charged with murder in connection with the killing of her lover over the weekend. The victim named her as his accused attacker before passing away.
Alejandro Santos, 47, was found staggering out of Michelle Hernandez’s apartment on West 147th Street on Sunday afternoon, knocking on doors as he bled from wounds on his arm and chest. Hernandez, 44, is charged with killing Santos.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan, Santos allegedly told a neighbor who opened their door, “She stabbed me,” before stating, “I think I’m going to pass out,” and fainting.
After telling the neighbors that Santos had been stabbed and where the knife was, Hernandez allegedly kneeled down and whispered in the victim’s ear, according to an assistant district attorney testifying during Hernandez’s arraignment on Tuesday.
She said to him, “Don’t tell anyone who stabbed you or they’ll take me to jail.”
After being taken to Harlem Hospital, Santos was declared deceased. The prosecutor claims that Hernandez was brought in by police for interrogation and was questioned twice, alternating between denying and affirming that Santos had stabbed himself.
Hernandez stated that before he stabbed himself, he had promised to inform everyone that she had stabbed Santos, when the police questioned her about Santos’ last-minute assertion to their neighbor that she had done so.
According to the ADA, Hernandez had a cut on her hand that might have been caused by using a knife. When the police searched the flat, they found security cameras and two bloodied knives.
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She was charged on Monday, according to the police, who cited a “domestic dispute” as the reason for the stabbing. The prosecution stated that the couple moved in roughly two years ago, having met while living together in a shelter a few years prior.
It was also disclosed in court that they had at least one prior altercation during that time, in which Hernandez allegedly threatened to jump out of their window and 911 was called.
Hernandez has a past filled with violent outbursts and drug usage.
Earlier instances include shattering another shelter resident’s arm in 2017 and kicking an eight-month pregnant lady in the stomach during a dispute, according to the prosecutor. She spend ten months in jail after receiving a two-year probationary sentence.
She was given an order to be detained without bond, and her next court date is May 22.
