NYC homeless stabbings: suspect says it’s the ‘stabber’s choice’

A suspect accused of stabbing multiple homeless people in New York City allegedly admitted that it was the “stabber’s choice” to knife his victims and purposefully used a serrated knife because he wanted to “drag pieces of intestine out,” reported The New York Post. 

Trevon Murphy, 40, is accused of killing one man and injuring two others over a week as he slit their stomachs with a knife while they slept. As a result, he was ordered to be held without bail. 

Murphy allegedly confessed his crimes to the police at the time of his arrest, telling them that he stabbed them because it was his “stabber’s choice” to do so, said Assistant District Attorney Shilpa Kalra. 

The suspect said he looked for a knife that would suit his needs at a hardware store. He thought “a knife with a flat edge would go in and out easily, whereas this knife that he bought would drag pieces of intestine out with it,” Kalra said.

“He targeted vulnerable, defenseless, unhoused victims—all of whom were asleep and had their backs to the defendant,” she said.

“These individuals, asleep and looking for respite in the only places they could find, were awoken violently when this defendant stabbed them all in the lower abdomen with a large, serrated scoring knife,” she continued. 

The first stabbing occurred on July 5 at around 3 a.m., when Murphy stabbed a homeless man sleeping on a bench near Hudson River Park and fled the scene. Drivers spotted the victim on the sidewalk almost two hours later. 

On July 7, Murphy allegedly stabbed another homeless man sleeping on a bench near Madison Avenue and East 49th street. His actions were caught by a surveillance camera, which shows him staring at the victim for 20 minutes before attacking. 

Four days later, he allegedly stabbed a third victim that was sleeping on a basketball court at Stanley Isaacs Playground near 95th Street and FDR Drive. 

Murphy was arrested in Upper Manhattan on Wednesday after he was recognized by a former Rikers Island security guard. He is being charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of assault in the first degree.  

Murphy was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has no permanent address in New York City, or friends and family.