By Jeremy Walsh
A Ridgewood mother of two was found shot dead in her home Friday and police were still searching for her killer Tuesday.
Police responded to 74-38 65th St. at 5:51 p.m. after receiving a report of an unconscious woman. There they found Joanna Malki, 42, with a single gunshot wound to her head. Malki was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests had been made by press time.
Malki was the mother of a 17-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy, neighbors said. Her next-door neighbors, who declined to give their names, described her as a quiet woman who kept to herself but was well-liked.
Neighbor Diane Seewald, who lives down the street, said Malki had lived in the two-family home with her children and her husband since before 2003.
“They were lovely people, they really, really were,” she said.
Other neighbors reacted with shock at the news of the murder.
“We never had something like this on the block,” said Donald Schultheiss, who lives across the street.
There were no external signs of the crime Friday morning as detectives canvassed the neighborhood. No yellow police tape was visible on the block of two-story attached brick homes, but tinsel garlands and red ribbons adorned many of the wrought iron fences along the sidewalk.
Malki’s death was the second homicide in the 104th Precinct in 2009, down from four in 2008, though all those deaths were caused by the same fatal fire allegedly set by a woman during a fight with her boyfriend. Overall major index crimes were down 4.9 percent for the year, according to precinct statistics.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
