Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Davi Vidal was indicted for the murder of his landlord, whom he is accused of strangling in her East Elmhurst home after the two argued about rent.

District Attorney Katz said: “We will seek justice for the brutally murdered victim and her loved ones. The defendant will have to answer to the charge that he violently took her life.”

Vidal, 19, of 96^th Street in East Elmhurst, was indicted on a charge of murder in the second degree. Also known as Deiby Vidal, he faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

According to the charges:

• On December 4, Zoraida Leo told a witness that she wanted to talk to Vidal about rent he owed her for an attic unit. Leo summoned Vidal to her apartment that evening.
• On December 5, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Leo’s son came to check on his 55-year-old mother after she missed work and family members had been unable to contact her. When Leo did not answer the door, her son entered her apartment and found his mother’s body at the entrance to a bathroom. He called police.
• Vidal was at the scene when police arrived. He was crying and had scratch marks on his face.
• An autopsy by the office of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner determined that Leo died by strangulation.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Ryan O’Leary of the New York Police Department’s 115^th

Precinct Detective Squad under the supervision of Lieutenant Juan Lopez.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Nicole Aloise of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, Peter J. McCormack III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.