Police need the public’s help in finding a man who brutally knifed his former girlfriend on an Elmhurst street early on Tuesday morning.
Law enforcement sources said the bloody attack occurred at 4:50 a.m. in the vicinity of Forley Street and Lamont Avenue.
According to authorities, the suspect — identified as 33-year-old Juan Portoviejo — approached the 31-year-old woman as she exited from a livery cab. The New York Daily News reported that the victim was Portoviejo’s former girlfriend.
Portoviejo allegedly knifed the woman repeatedly around her torso and neck, then ran from the scene, police said.
Officers from the 110th Precinct along with EMS units. Medical professionals determined that the woman sustained more than 20 stab wounds to her torso and neck; according to the Daily News, she suffered a punctured lung and a slashed throat, but the wounds narrowly missed other vital organs and arteries.
Paramedics rushed the victim to Elmhurst Hospital, where she’s listed in stable condition.
Cops describe Portoviejo as standing 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. The Daily News noted that Portoviejo had attacked the victim more than two weeks earlier, on Aug. 13, choking her as she got out of a cab at an Elmhurst location.
Anyone with information regarding the suspect’s whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA), visit the Crime Stoppers website or send a text message to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
