Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Manuel Villar, 50, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on murder charges and other crimes for fatally stabbing to death his wife in the apartment they shared with their sons. The slaying occurred early in the morning in September 2020.

District Attorney Katz said, “A woman is dead, and her three sons are dealing with the trauma of her violent death and the knowledge that their own father allegedly committed this heinous crime. The defendant will be held fully accountable for his alleged crimes.”

Villar, of Far Rockaway, was arraigned today before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise on an indictment charging him with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Justice Aloise set the defendant’s return date for January 12, 2021. If convicted, Villar faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.

District Attorney Katz said, between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. on September 24th defendant allegedly grabbed a knife and repeatedly stabbed the 43-year-old woman. With his wife bleeding out, Villar fled the bedroom and then left the apartment. The couple’s three sons along with one of their friends was in the apartment, unaware of the violence.

According to the charges, the defendant later called 911 from another location. Police responded to the couple’s home and found the victim deceased on her bedroom floor, slumped against the bed. The defendant was arrested a short time later that morning in Brooklyn.

The investigation was conducted by Police Officer Valerie Rivera of the New York City Police Department’s 101st Precinct Detective Squad and Detective Ramon Munoz of the NYPD’s Queens South Homicide Squad.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Kirk Sendlein, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Brad A. Leventhal, Bureau Chief, Peter J. McCormack III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, John W. Kosinski and Kenneth A. Appelbaum, Deputy Bureau Chiefs and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.

DA Katz urges anyone who is a victim of domestic violence to reach out to the Office’s 24-hour helpline at (718) 286-4410, for support and services, housing referrals or if they need to speak to a prosecutor. If anyone is in immediate danger, as always, call 911.