A Long Island woman was allegedly stabbed to death in front of her two-year-old son by the child’s father, just one day after her protective order against him expired.
Brenda Guadalupe Alfaro-Alcantara, 29, was found in the basement of her Hempstead home with “multiple stab wounds” shortly before 8:30 p.m. Sunday, and was pronounced dead at the scene, county police said. Nassau.
The next day, officers arrested Jose Funes Zabala, 43, of Roosevelt, charged with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the death of Alfaro Alcantara.
Officers say he stabbed the mother of one, with whom he had been in a romantic relationship for three years, 34 times in front of her son after she informed him she was dating someone else.
‘His son was there when it happened. “He witnessed this,” police Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said. he told ABC 7. “And there he stayed, covered in his mother’s blood.”
Brenda Guadalupe Alfaro-Alcantara, 29, was found in the basement of her Hempstead home with “multiple stab wounds” shortly before 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
The police captain went on to say that Funes Zabala fled the scene after the brutal homicide and left his son behind.
The two-year-old boy was later found covered in blood, leaving his mother’s basement apartment, where he met other family members.
Fortunately, Fitzpatrick said, the boy was not injured in the attack.
However, Funes-Zabala had reportedly injured the boy in the past as part of his long history of violent behavior, and family members describe in an online fundraiser how Alfaro-Alcántara’s homicide is a “tragedy that has been years in the making.”
“For years we knew something was wrong with him,” wrote Yessenia Funes. ‘He would terrorize his little cousins. He attacked another ex, the mother of his oldest son.
But, he said, it wasn’t until 2022 that they learned how violent Funes-Zabala could really be.
Authorities charged her ex, Jose Funes-Zabala, 43, with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with her homicide.
That year, her and Alfaro-Alcántara’s then-baby were rushed to the hospital with a fractured skull, bleeding in the eyes and brain, a broken rib and a broken finger, according to GoFundMe.
Alfaro Alcántara then obtained a protective order against him last year, which expired on Friday, just a day before the suspect returned to the house they used to share to visit his son and allegedly stabbed his ex. News day reports.
The suspect was found after the homicide at a local hospital with self-inflicted wounds and was declared physically and mentally fit to stand trial, ABC 7 reports.
Relatives remembered Alfano-Alcántara as a devoted mother to her son
Yessenia remembered Alfano-Alcántara as a devoted mother, who came to the United States in 2021 ‘to be with the man she believed loved her.’
“She was a committed mother, who did what she could to raise her son with the little she had,” the GoFundMe reads.
She notes that her son “doesn’t remember her voice or the warmth of her hugs,” but “he still asks about her.”
The child is now in the care of a family friend, who is dealing with the unforeseen costs of fostering a young child, according to GoFundMe.
As of Tuesday afternoon, he had raised more than $10,000 for the boy’s future.
In the meantime, officers urge anyone who finds themselves in a domestic violence situation to seek help.
“I can’t emphasize enough that if you feel a protective order is still warranted, you should still reapply and renew it,” Fitzpatrick said.
“We are always here,” he noted. “If you don’t want to talk to us, you can call our domestic violence hotline and try to stop this type of violence.”
