The St. Albans landlord who allegedly snapped and stabbed his live-in girlfriend and two tenants to death before turning himself in at the 113th Precinct was hauled before a judge on Wednesday, Nov. 15. David Daniel, 54, of 122-39 Milburn St., was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with three counts of murder and weapons charges and he is now facing life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
According to the charges, Daniel walked into the 113th Precinct at approximately 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14, and told a lieutenant at the front desk that he had not only stabbed his fellow residents to death but also left the home unlocked for cops. At approximately 7:16 a.m., officers from the 113th Precinct went to the Milburn Street home and discovered tenants 57-year-old Wayne Thomas and 55-year-old Evette Sweeney laying on the floor of their basement apartment. Each had sustained multiple stab wounds, according to the charges.
In a second-floor bedroom, officers found Daniel’s girlfriend, 51-year-old Coleen Fields, laying on a bed, the charges state. She had also sustained multiple stab wounds.
All three victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
“The bloody crime scene was the result of extraordinary brutality,” Katz said. “In court, what we will show is that the defendant viciously stabbed his defenseless victims to death.”
Investigators believe the motivations for the murders stem from a rent dispute, purportedly leading Daniel to snap and kill his tenants before stabbing his girlfriend to death.
“He indicates that he had problems with his girlfriend but the two males in the basement had not been paying their rent,” Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said, which Daniel seemed to confirm himself as detectives walked him out of the 113th Precinct on Wednesday afternoon.
Daniel was peppered with questions from reporters and told them that he was under “a lot of pressure” before he was placed in a police vehicle for the trip to Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens.
Daniel was criminally charged with three counts of murder in the first and second degrees and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Queens Criminal Court Judge Scott Dunn ordered him to return to court on Nov. 17.
