By Christina Santucci
Police were still searching Tuesday for whoever killed a 54-year-old immigration law consultant found with puncture wounds to the throat in her Woodhaven home.
Yasmeen Rabbani was initially discovered in the house Sunday evening by her son, according to police.
Rabbani is listed as president of Can-Am, which offers U.S. and Canadian immigration services, according to its website.
Mohammed Afaq Farooqi, the chief editor and publisher of The Pakistan Post in Queens, said Rabbani worked for him in the marketing department for about 1 1/2 years a decade back.
“She was very confident, well-spoken, and well-educated,” Farooqi said.
Responding to a call of an elderly woman in need of help at about 9:30 p.m., police said they found Rabbani inside the first-floor apartment of the home on 91st Avenue and 88th Street. Emergency responders were called and Rabbani was pronounced dead, police said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for the NYPD said the investigation was ongoing.
Grace Law, a neighbor who lives on the same block, said she noticed emergency vehicles pulling up on the tree-lined block.
“I still can’t believe it is Yasmeen,” Law said, as she watched members of the Crime Scene Unit and detectives conduct their investigation Monday morning.
Law described Rabbani, who had lived in the home for the past five years, as a native of Pakistan who had a son and a daughter and two grandchildren.
“She was such an outgoing person,” Law said.
Law recalled seeing Rabbani playing in the backyard with her grandkids over the summer.
“She was like a kid with them with the hose,” Law said of her neighbor.
Law also said she spotted Rabbani with her family during Ramadan dressed up for the holiday.
One other person, a male tenant, also lived at the Woodhaven home, Law said. Police declined to say if anyone else besides Rabbani lived in the home.
In Woodhaven, several neighbors, who paused in front of the home, said they were shocked after learning what had happed.
“We have never heard about anything like this,” said Law, who has lived on the street for the past 30 years.
Law also said she would greatly miss her neighbor.
“I still can’t believe she is gone, and she is gone in such a tragic way,” Law said.
