By Sophia Chang
Police have not released any information on suspects in the murder case in which Stacy-Ann Sappleton was shot multiple times in the neck, arm and torso. Although the possibility of sexual assault was raised because the victim was discovered only in her underwear, several news sources have reported that the medical examiner's office had found no signs of rape.
Sappleton, a 26-year-old insurance specialist from Ontario, was in town to plan her wedding with the family of her fiancé, Damion Blair, and may have disappeared a mere block from the Blair family home in Brookville.
Her last known location was in a taxi she picked up at LaGuardia Airport the morning of May 7, and the cab driver has told police he dropped Sappleton off on the corner of 146th Avenue and 226th Street, half a block from the Blair residence, authorities said. She was believed to have called Blair on her cell phone for directions to his family's home on her way over.
Blair's brother Mark, 20, was the only person at the Blair residence that Friday morning, but the family had left the front door unlocked for Sappleton, according to the New York Post. Mark was sleeping in the basement. He has been questioned but is not considered a suspect, the Post said.
Police also have not released information on whether Sappleton was killed shortly after her disappearance that Friday or if she had been held captive until her body was found the following Monday.
Further puzzling details have emerged. The Daily News reported Saturday that Blair told the police that this was Sappleton's first visit to Queens, but investigators have found that she may have lived in the borough before. Police were also investigating the possibility that she may have recently taken a series of short airplane trips, according to the News.
Sappleton's body will be taken back to Toronto for a funeral on May 22, the New York Times reported.
Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
