Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that David Galicia, 48, was arraigned following a Queens County grand jury indicting the defendant on murder charges and other crimes for allegedly slashing his elderly mother to death on April 24, 2020. The victim had stab wounds to her head and hands and was found slumped on the kitchen floor of the Woodside apartment she shared with the defendant.

District Attorney Katz said, “The victim in this case should have been enjoying her golden years. Instead, her life came to a bloody and brutal end, and the accused is her own son. The defendant is charged with an unthinkable crime. The defendant is in custody and will be held accountable for these alleged crimes.”

Galicia, of 41st Avenue in Woodside, was arraigned this afternoon before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder on an indictment charging him with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Justice Holder remanded the defendant and set the return date for December 9, 2020. If convicted, Galicia faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that police responded to a 911 call shortly after 7 a.m. on April 24. At the entrance to the building at 41st Avenue and 68th Street, police discovered a bloody trail leading to the apartment shared by the defendant and his mother, Carmelita Cabansag. Inside, police found the body of the 78-year-old woman lifeless on the kitchen floor. She had severe puncture wounds to her head and a blood-covered meat cleaver was discarded beside the body.

Continuing, according to DA Katz, the defendant was also inside the apartment with what appeared to be self-inflicted injuries. He was arrested and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The investigation was conducted by detectives of the New York City Police Department’s 108th Precinct Detective Squad and the Queens Homicide North Detective Squad.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Emily Collins with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Patricia Diaz, both of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau are 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.