By Michael Morton
The victim, who was found with his hands and legs bound together and a rope around his neck at 178-62 Leslie Rd., had not been identified as of Tuesday night, police said, and no arrests had been made in the ongoing investigation.The discovery of the man marked the beginning of a rash of murders over the last week and a half in southeast Queens, with a 48-year-old woman stabbed to death and a 43-year-old man fatally shot in Jamaica last Thursday and a 33-year-old Brooklyn man shot and killed in South Jamaica Sunday.The 48-year-old woman, Stacy Sapir, was found by a neighbor lying dead in her bed inside a house on 148th Street near 87th Avenue at 12:30 p.m. after suffering one stab wound to the stomach, police said.While no one had been charged in her death as of Tuesday, James Blount, an ex-boyfriend from Manhattan, was arrested for violating an order of protection at her house at 12:40 p.m. the same day, police said. Blount, 45, told officers he called Sapir's cell phone multiple times, threw rocks at her window and entered her house in order to contact her, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Queens district attorney's office. Blount was arraigned Saturday in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens on charges of criminal contempt and held on $25,000 bail, a spokeswoman for the DA said. The 45-year-old must return to court April 22.Police said Sapir's neighbor was the only other tenant in her building, and they were looking for anyone who may have seen someone leave or enter the house last Thursday.Detectives were also investigating the fatal shooting of a 43-year-old man last Thursday at the corner of 110th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard, police said.The man, who had not been identified as of Tuesday, was shot three to four times in the chest for unknown reasons, police said. No investigations had been made in the ongoing investigation.The streak of bloodshed ended Sunday, when a 33-year-old Brooklyn man, Robert Wright, was found shot in the head at a house on 154th Street near 118th Avenue, police said. No arrests had been made in the case as of Tuesday.Anyone with information in the four murders can call police at 800-577-TIPS.Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
