A 29-year-old Ridgewood man was convicted Thursday in the stabbing death of his female roommate in the apartment they shared on Stanhope Street in 2016, according to the Queens DA’s office.
Following a bench trial in Queens Supreme Court, Render Stetson-Shanahan was found guilty of manslaughter after the victim, Carolyn Bush, was repeatedly stabbed to death, according to Queens District Melinda Katz.
According to trial testimony, shortly before midnight on Dec. 28, 2016, police responded to a 911 call about a man wearing only underwear and roaming the neighborhood with a knife.
Police found the defendant back in his apartment, in bed and bleeding from a self-inflicted wound to his right thigh.
In the next room, 26-year-old Carolyn Bush was bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds in her neck and torso which caused massive injuries to her heart, lungs and severed an artery. The victim was taken to Wyckoff Hospital, where she died a short time later. Stetson-Shanahan was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition where he was taken into police custody.
“This was a horribly disturbing case,” Katz said. “The defendant returned to the apartment he shared with his roommate late one night and stabbed her multiple times, causing her death. The knife sliced into her back and neck puncturing her heart, lungs and a major artery.”
Following the non-jury trial, Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter rendered a verdict of guilty of manslaughter in the second degree and set sentencing for March 26, at which time Stetson-Shanahan faces up to five to 15 years in prison.
Bush was a writer who moved to Ridgewood after graduating from Bard College. Stetson-Shanahan was an artist who also went to Bard.
