A Queens Village man has been charged in the machete killing of his own mother in February, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Osvaldo Diaz, 46, of Hillside Avenue, was indicted by a Queens grand jury and arraigned Wednesday, Jan. 12, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant on a three-count indictment charging him with murder, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly stabbing and slashing his 78-year-old mother to death on Feb. 24, 2021.
According to Katz, Diaz and his elderly mother, Maria Diaz, lived together in an apartment above a beauty salon at 219-44 Hillside Ave. in Queens Village and on Feb. 24, the defendant’s sister went to their home for a visit. The two women had previously planned to run some errands and go for a walk. But when the defendant’s sister arrived at the apartment and called her mother on her cell phone, the 78-year-old woman never answered despite numerous calls. Eventually, the defendant picked up the phone and allegedly told his sister to go to the store.
According to charges, when the sister left the building, Osvaldo Diaz was observed on video surveillance leaving the apartment. When the woman returned, no one responded to her calls. That’s when she summoned the property owner who permitted her into the apartment, where she discovered her mother’s body bleeding and wrapped in bedding. The 78-year-old victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Katz said the defendant was on the run for just over a week when he was apprehended in New Jersey. Diaz was returned to Queens on Jan. 12 to face charges.
“The defendant allegedly attacked his mother with a machete, to the point of near-decapitation,” Katz said. “This outburst of violence has devastated the victim’s family, which includes her other six children. The defendant fled the state but was apprehended and extradited to Queens.”
Justice Pandit-Durant ordered the defendant to return to court on Feb. 17. Diaz faces up to 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.
