Raad Almansoori, the man accused of killing a Queens mom and sex worker in a Manhattan hotel, tried again and again to end her life before finally succeeding, authorities said at a Monday court hearing in Arizona, where he remains held without bond.
The suspect is accused of brutally murdering Denisse Oleas-Arancibia in a room on the 11th floor of the SoHo 54 hotel. Bits of plastic were found embedded in her head and a bloody iron was next to her when her body was discovered Feb. 8, according to authorities.
After a dispute over how long he would stay in the hotel room, Almansoori began choking her with his hands and forearms, Jeremy Goebel, a Surprise, Arizona, police detective said Monday.
The attacker tried to snap her neck, turning it from side to side, and hit her in the head with an iron multiple times, he added. Almansoori then tried to suffocate Oleas-Arancibia with a sock and blanket, according to Goebel.
“In his words, ‘She just wouldn’t die,’” said the prosecutor questioning the detective.
Following Oleas-Arancibia’s murder, Almansoori, 26, fled to Arizona, where he was arrested Feb. 18 for stabbing two other women.
Upon his arrest, he indicated to cops that he’d come from New York because he was on the run after the murder.
“Not a single woman on this planet likes me so I was very upset,” he told police, adding that he was addicted to sex and was broken because of it.
Commissioner Lindsey Coates ruled in the Maricopa County, Ariz., courtroom that Almansoori will remain behind bars without bail due to the danger he poses to the public.
Shortly after his arrest, the suspect blabbed to the cops about the murder and attempted killings, going into “graphic detail” about how he took the life of Oleas-Arancibia basically unprompted, according to Goebel.
Almansoori described to Arizona police that he and the victim had met on an online website and arranged a meet-up at the hotel.
Goebel also recounted two terrifying incidents in Arizona. In one, Almansoori allegedly followed an 18-year-old victim into a McDonald’s bathroom, crawled under a stall and pepper sprayed and stabbed her in the neck as she screamed. The victim later described Almansoori as having “evil eyes.”
He’s also accused of stabbing a 22-year-old woman in Phoenix after forcing himself into her car and had a plan to kill his father and stepmother and burn down their house, according to Goebel.
New bodycam footage of Almansoori’s arrest was released Sunday, showing the moment the alleged murderer was captured after fleeing to Arizona.
The images show Arizona police officers training their guns on the suspect as they take him out of his car and handcuff him.
His arrest set off a political face-off between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
Mitchell has vowed to try to block the extradition of Almansoori to New York until after he’s tried in Arizona, saying that Bragg is too soft on crime to be entrusted with the suspect.
“Having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg, it’s safer to keep him here and keep him in custody so he can’t be out doing this to individuals either in our state or county or the United States,” Mitchell, a Republican running for re-election, previously said.
The issue of extradition was not a major focus of the hearing.
“I am not making a determination about the bail and his eligibility, therefore, based on any information related to a separate proceeding in New York City, it’s a totally separate proceeding,” the court commissioner said. “I’m only making a decision about this case today. So that’s my decision about this case.”
Bragg has blasted Mitchell for trying to block the extradition.
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