A Long Island teenager allegedly tossed boiling water on his grandmother’s new fiancé and then knifed him to death in the middle of the night as the helpless victim was asleep, according to authorities.
Noel Bermudez-Chin, 18, who relatives say suffers from schizophrenia, allegedly killed Joseph Falvo, 61, inside the living room of their mobile home in East Northport around 4 a.m. Sunday, Suffolk County police said.
Falvo was rushed to Huntington Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.
It’s unclear why Bermudez-Chin allegedly attacked Falvo, but he admitted to investigators that he threw scalding hot water on him before he “stabbed him five or six times in the back and then stabbed him in the stomach,” court docs obtained by News 12 said.
The victim’s fiancée, Cecilia Bermudez, said she and her beau were engaged last month and eyeing a July wedding, the outlet reported.
The couple and the murder suspect all lived in the trailer after a fire torched part of their home in December.
Bermudez-Chin was arrested about a mile from the trailer and charged with second-degree murder, police said.
The alleged murder weapon was a large knife, according to court docs.
The teen showed little regret over the killing, allegedly telling police “it is what it is,” said Suffolk assistant district attorney Michelle Chiuchiolo during his Monday arraignment, Newsday reported.
Falvo was also asleep when the attack began, prosecutors said, according to the newspaper.
A lawyer representing Bermudez-Chin, Peter Mayer, told The Post that his client is presumed innocent leading up to trial, but declined further comment about the allegations for now.
A family member said the suspect is schizophrenic.
“He’s been struggling for the last couple years since his diagnosis, un-medicated by his own choice,” his older brother Anthony Ortiz told Newsday.
“I just really want him to get the help he needs.”
