The NYPD is still searching for a Brooklyn man believed to have stabbed a woman and two of her small children to death inside of a Staten Island hotel serving as temporary housing for dozens of homeless families. A third child, also stabbed, remains in critical but stable condition at Richmond University Medical Center.
The suspect, 23-year-old Michael Sykes of Brownsville, is the father of one of 26-year-old Rebecca Cutler's children, four-month-old Maiyah Sykes, who was slain yesterday. Cutler and Sykes were apparently dating at the time of the murders; a Facebook post suggests that they may have been married.
The surviving child, Cutler's by another father, has been identified since yesterday as a toddler girl named Miracle.
Surveillance footage acquired by ABC shows Sykes entering a deli on Victory Boulevard around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, an hour before the murders. The NYPD believes that Sykes was with Cutler and the children at that time, and that all five of them returned to the nearby hotel around 8:00. Other security camera footage shows Sykes entering Cutler's hotel room at 8:50 a.m., apparently to carry out the murders.
At a press conference on Wednesday, NYPD brass said that Sykes did not have a known history of abuse with Cutler. The only documented dispute between Sykes and Cutler took place on Tuesday, near the shelter, when Sykes apparently took Cutler's cellphone. Now NBC is reporting that the NYPD filed a petit larceny report Tuesday afternoon, in regards to the stolen phone. According to the news outlet, Sykes had accused Cutler of talking to another man.
Yesterday it was reported that Sykes called a family member soon after the stabbings and confessed. According to the NY Times, the phone call was made to his mother, who alerted the NYPD and said that Sykes had threatened to kill himself.
Sykes was last seen Wednesday morning on an S62 bus, en route to the Staten Island Ferry.
Following the triple stabbing, Mayor de Blasio announced emergency security measures for the 41 hotels city-wide that serve as temporary housing for homeless families. Starting today, each hotel will be offered free, 24-hour security through the Department of Homeless Services. Because the facilities are privately owned, the security cannot be imposed by the city. "We will certainly encourage them to utilize it," the Mayor said, adding that he intends to phase out the utilization of hotels for homeless families "as quickly as possible."
The Ramada Inn where Cutler and her children were stabbed had overnight security, but no daytime watch. The victims were discovered an hour after the stabbings by a maid. "As far as we know the hotel didn't know about this until after it happened," NYPD Chief of Detective Robert Boyce told reporters yesterday.
NYC started placing homeless New Yorkers in hotels in September 2015, according to the NY Times. The City has apparently sought out hotels outside the city center, including Staten Island, for the cheaper rates (rooms at the Ramada Inn where these murders took place reportedly cost an average of $158 per night). Approximately 2,656 New Yorkers are currently housed in shelter hotels, 637 of whom are children.
