The Queens man accused of knifing his wife and two-year-old daughter to death in a double murder-suicide bid stabbed his spouse more than 18 times — then began stabbing himself on a FaceTime call to a panicked nephew, officials said Friday.
Ernesto Cruz, 54, would not speak to detectives after the Saturday night killings in his Ridgewood home and “just stared at the wall pretending like we weren’t there,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a briefing Thursday.
But the violence he inflicted on his wife Ana Pilatagsi-Moposita, 41, and daughter Analiz Cruz spoke volumes, officials said.
Cruz stabbed his wife more than 18 times and plunged the knife six times into her heart, Kenny said. He also stabbed her in the chest, neck, and face.
One of the wounds severed an artery, which ultimately killed her. The child, Analiz, was also stabbed in the chest and neck, cops said.
Police investigate after Ana Pilatagsi-Moposita, 41, and her 2-year-old daughter Analiz Cruz were fatally stabbed on July 19 in their home on Forest Ave. in Ridgewood. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
After stabbing his wife and daughter, Cruz called his sister, Kenny said.
“Get here,” he said. “They’re dying. Send help.”
“She panics,” Kenny said. “Her son Omar calls back, starts FaceTiming with him. Mom and daughter were already stabbed but FaceTime caught some of him stabbing himself.”
Medics took the parents to Elmhurst Hospital, where Pilatagsi-Moposita died. The baby girl went to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center but could not be saved.
Cruz had stabbed himself in the chest and was trying to slit his own wrists when police arrived at the scene and took him to a local hospital.
Responding officers had trouble getting through the front door and had to use a fire escape behind the building to access the bloody home, shocked neighbors told the Daily News.
Before Saturday’s killing, Cruz and his family were not on the NYPD’s radar, Kenny said. Cops had never been called to the home before, he said.
“Family members do state the wife was very jealous because of an incident with her ex-husband” before Cruz, Kenny said. “She’s constantly hounding [Cruz]. The wife asked to see [his] phone.”
Police investigate after Ana Pilatagsi-Moposita, 41, and her 2-year-old daughter Analiz Cruz were fatally stabbed on July 19 in their home on Forest Ave. in Ridgewood. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Cruz was charged with murder and weapons possession. He was expected to be arraigned Friday from his hospital bed, officials said.
The niece, who declined to give her name, last saw her aunt and little cousin about two weeks ago and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She has never met Cruz.
“We hope he goes to jail for doing that,” she said. “That’s his daughter. His daughter from blood. That’s his only daughter.”
She said little Analiz loved to dance.
“She’s joyful,” the niece said. “She always comes hugging me and now I have no one to do that with.”
Her aunt was married once before and has two surviving children, a 22-year-old son and a 17-year-old son.
“He’s in shock,” she said of the younger son. “He doesn’t want to talk right now.”
Neighbors said Pilatagsi-Moposita worked as a home health aide and was often seen wearing scrubs.
“Ana was a hardworking woman,” the victim’s grieving 19-year-old niece told the Daily News on Monday. “Joyful. She’s always strong and everything.”