By Sadef Ali Kully
A mother, her boyfriend and son were arrested on charges of witness tampering Saturday in connection with the last murder of 2015, the killing of a 16-year-old boy in South Jamaica, according to police officials.
At the same time, an investigation into the first murder of the new year led to murder charges Wednesday against the boyfriend of a 19-year-old woman whose body was found in her Woodhaven home, police said.
Thirty minutes before midnight Dec. 31, 103rd Precinct police officers responded to a shooting at the corner of 109th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard, police said.
Police found 16-year-old Jihad Jackson, from Rosedale, shot once in the neck. He was unresponsive, according to police officials, who also said emergency responders pronounced Jihad dead at the scene.
During the investigation into the murder, police arrested three people in connection with the crime: Eduardo Placencia, 18; Natalie Placencia, 49, Eduardo’s mother; and her boyfriend, Dorian Carr, 48. All three live near the scene of the slaying.
Police sources said there was evidence from the Placencia home on Merrick Boulevard indicating that after Jihad was shot, he was moved outside.
According to the criminal complaint file by the Queens district attorney’s office, all three suspects admitted that Jackson’s body was removed from the home and police on the scene found a bloody cloth outside in the bushes near the Placencia home.
Police said they have not yet determined the nature of the relationship between Jihad and the three suspects or the motive behind the death.
Less than 24 hours after the report of Jihad’s slaying, 102nd Precinct officers found an unconscious woman inside the first floor of her Woodhaven home.
Around 10:46 p.m., police discovered 19-year-old Joceline Romo with no apparent trauma, lying face down on her bed, police officials said.
Emergency responders pronounced Romo dead at the scene and the city medical examiner ruled the death was a homicide.
According to the DA, Romo’s boyfriend, Fabian Maliza, 24, was charged Wednesday with the death of his girlfriend. He is in custody and being evaluated at Jamaica Hospital’s psychiatric ward, the DA said.
Maliza allegedly strangled Romo until she could not breathe and if convicted could face up to 25 years in prison, according to the Queens DA.
In 2015, there was a nearly 5 percent increase in homicides—a total of 348 compared to 2014, which had 333 murders across the city.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
