Arizona prosecutors are refusing to send an accused prostitute killer to New York thanks to what they call the Manhattan district attorney’s lax treatment of “violent criminals.”
Maricopa County Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell told reporters that she ordered her staff not to cooperate with plans to send Raad Noan Almansoori, 26, back to New York, where he is wanted for the alleged murder. by Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, 38 years old.
“Having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, I believe it is safer to keep him here and keep him in custody so that he cannot be doing this to individuals in our state”. county or anywhere in the United States,” Mitchell said, according to NBC News.
‘This is not directed at the New York Police Department at all. “I know they did a hard job, they did a good job, but we will not accept extradition,” he added.
‘I have ordered my extradition lawyers not to accept that. Let’s keep it here.’
Raad Almansoori, 26, was arrested by police in Arizona for another assault on another woman.
When staff discovered Denisse Oleas-Arancibia’s body on the morning of February 8, the 38-year-old woman was lying under a blanket and next to a broken iron, having been admitted the day before.
Maricopa County Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell (pictured) told reporters that she has ordered her staff not to cooperate with plans to send Raad Noan Almansoori, 26, back to New York, where he is wanted. for the alleged murder of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, 38 years old.
Mitchell said he did not trust Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (pictured) to handle “violent criminals” based on his record as a reason to refuse extradition.
Emily Tuttle, Bragg’s representative, said it is “deeply disturbing” that Mitchell is “playing political games in a murder investigation” and described her statement as “a slap in the face” to New York authorities.
‘It is deeply disturbing that Prosecutor Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation.
‘In Manhattan, we take the safety of New Yorkers seriously, which is why murders have decreased by 24 percent and shootings by 38 percent since Attorney Bragg took office.
‘New York’s homicide rate is less than half that of Phoenix, Arizona, thanks to the hard work of the NYPD and all of our law enforcement partners.
“It is a slap in the face to them and to the victim in our case to refuse to allow us to seek justice and full accountability for the death of a New Yorker.”
In a scathing response to Bragg’s office at X, Mitchell responded. ‘It’s great to see the Manhattan DA finally taking an interest in violent crime. My job is to focus on the victims whose protection I was chosen.’
Almansoori is in custody on suspicion of killing Queens sex worker Oleas-Arancibia by strangling her and hitting her in the head at the Soho 54 hotel on February 8.
He was arrested in Arizona after stabbing another woman at a McDonald’s.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the NYPD revealed new details, including that Almansoori was out on bail at the time of the murder for attacking and sexually assaulting another escort in Florida in April 2023.
After being arrested on that charge, he posted his own bail in September of last year.
He also confessed to attacking three other women.
“We are working with our partners to arrange for his extradition so that he can be charged with the homicide here,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
Kenny also revealed that Almansoori has an “extensive” history of out-of-state arrests, having previously been arrested in Florida, Texas and Arizona.
Surveillance footage of Almansoori captured after the murder of Oleas-Arancibia wearing a suit on a well-lit Manhattan street.
In a scathing response to Bragg’s office at X, Mitchell responded
A surveillance image shows the suspect in Oleas-Arancibia’s gruesome murder wearing a suit in Manhattan.
Oleas-Arancibia’s death has been formally ruled a homicide (pictured: interior of the room where Oleas-Arancibia was found)
Oleas-Arancibia died from neck compression and blunt head trauma, according to a spokesman for the city medical examiner.
A bloody iron was found next to his body. Police also recovered a pair of bloody pants with a hotel room receipt.
Oleas-Arancibia (pictured left) came to the United States five years ago, leaving behind her family, including one of her children.
Confirming the chronology of events, Kenny said Almansoori had purchased a plane ticket from Florida to New York on January 26.
According to Kenny, he then uses the credit card three days later in the Big Apple and visits an escort in Upper Manhattan on February 6.
Oleas-Arancibia’s body was found the morning of February 8, and four days later, Almansoori reportedly flew back to Arizona from Newark.
Authorities in Arizona arrested him Sunday after he stabbed a woman at McDonald’s after dragging her into the women’s bathroom and holding her against her will.
Police say Almansoori was arrested shortly after he tried to flee in a stolen car and admitted while in custody to being stabbed earlier in Phoenix. In that incident, a woman was stabbed when a man tried to steal her car at knifepoint.
Almansoori was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and robbery.
He was also charged with robbery, assault, theft and criminal mischief in the separate Phoenix investigation. He is being held without bail.
Kenny added that extradition could take “days, weeks or even months.”
Police said last week they had been using “extensive video” to locate the person of interest in Oleas-Arancibia’s death.