By Adam Kramer
A Queens Village father killed himself by drinking soda laced with cyanide and attempted to poison his two teenage children last Thursday, but his daughter emerged from a coma and was well enough to be released from North Shore Hospital Monday, police said.
Juan Arequipa, 49, and his daughter Vanessa, 15, of 89-68 210th Place, became violently ill after drinking the soda last Thursday at 3:34 p.m., said Carmen Melendez, a Police Department spokeswoman.
She said Arequipa’s 18-year-old son, who did not drink any of the soda, called 911 after his father and sister became ill. Arequipa and his daughter were rushed to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, where he died at 5:12 p.m. Vanessa Arequipa was treated at Mary Immaculate Hospital and later transferred to North Shore University Hospital, Melendez said.
By the time Vanessa Arequipa had been taken to the hospital, she was in a coma, police said. Slowly she got better and by Saturday she was in stable condition. She was released from the hospital on Monday, a North Shore spokeswoman said.
Police said that when the teens returned from school, they were greeted by their father, who had pizza and Coca-Cola. Shortly after they sat down, Arequipa’s daughter drank the soda and complained that it tasted bitter.
A police source said Vanessa Arequipa complained of nausea, started to foam at the mouth and went into convulsions after drinking the soda. The source said Arequipa, after seeing his daughter convulsing, picked up the cups full of soda on the table and took swigs from each of them.
Arequipa had a seizure and died a few hours later at the hospital, the source said, noting that Arequipa had been despondent for some time.
It was reported that Arequipa’s wife was at work at the time he tried to poison his children.
Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said the chemical toxicology reports showed that the soda was laced with cyanide, and ruled out product tampering.
Police have said Arequipa got the cyanide from his business, where he used cyanide to clean jewelry.
Arequipa was arrested in June 2000 for buying stolen goods at his porn shop at 219-19 Jamaica Ave. in Queens Village, said Detective Robert Samuel, an NYPD spokesman.
Neighbors on the block were in disbelief and shock that the poisoning happened in their neighborhood, an unassuming and nondescript section of Queens Village.
“[Vanessa Arequipa] was very nice and we were close during the summer when we would hang out,” said Naline Hamsraj, 16, who lived across the street from the Arequipas. “It hurts. I can’t believe what happened, a poisoning and suicide. I don’t think he would do that because he really loves his kids.”
Tanuir Rafi, another neighbor who moved onto the tree-lined block three months ago, said he did not know the family very well, but last weekend Arequipa told him that he wanted to sell his house.
“They were very nice,” said Ben Persaud, who moved into the neighborhood in 1991 after the Arequipas were already living on the block. “I knew the boy and girl since they were 7 or 8 years old. They were a normal family — nothing out of the blue.
“It is tragic. I saw the father over the weekend; it was a shock. There were no domestic problems that I knew about. She was a nice quiet kid with a bright future.”
He said Arequipa was a quiet man who seemed to have no reason to do anything to harm himself or his family.
“I don’t understand why he would do that,” Hamsraj said. “I don’t think he was the type to kill his whole family.”
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
