Queens man who strangled landlady over unpaid rent gets 22 years in prison
A Queens man who strangled his landlord to death during a confrontation over unpaid rent in 2023 has been sentenced to 22 years in prison, the Queens District Attorney announced.
Davi Vidal, 21, was sentenced Friday by Queen’s Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant for the strangulation death of his 55-year-old landlady, Zoraida Leo, whose lifeless body was found by police in her apartment building off 96th Street near 32nd Avenue in East Elmhurst on Dec. 5, 2023. Vidal will also receive five years of post-release supervision.
“This defendant brutally attacked Zoraida Leo after a dispute over rent, then left her to die on the floor of her own home,” said Crown Attorney Melinda Katz. “No family should have to endure the loss of a loved one in such a cruel way. We cannot undo this enormous harm, but with this conviction we have helped to achieve justice for Ms. Leo’s family.”
Prosecutors said that on Dec. 4 around 7:30 p.m., Leo and Vidal got into an argument over unpaid rent that turned physical, with Vidal strangling the victim with his hands and the cord of an iron.
Leo’s son discovered her body the next day when he went to the house and found her near the toilet entrance. She was sprawled on the ground with scratches on her face. Police initially believed she had been beaten to death, but an autopsy by the New York City medical examiner later determined she died of strangulation.
“It was a terrible scene,” Leo’s neighbor and friend Eva Rivera told the Daily News at the time of the incident. “He was screaming: ‘My mother has been killed!’ »
Vidal, who had lived in the building’s attic apartment for about two years, was arrested the same day after her body was found after police zeroed in on him.
“She was an incredibly kind woman,” Rivera said of Leo. “She never had any problems with anyone. It was a terrible tragedy.”
About Vidal, she said: “After he killed her, he didn’t even run away. He went back to his room on the second floor and hid like nothing happened.”
Vidal, who was 19 at the time of the murder, always said he didn’t have a job, Rivera said: “All he did was sit on the stairs.” »
When officers arrested Vidal, he tearfully admitted to strangling Leo and pushing her down a flight of stairs, according to prosecutors.
“When she fell, I didn’t help her because I was afraid,” Vidal reportedly told the arresting officers. “I didn’t know what to do, I’m not a doctor.
“It’s my fault she died, because I pushed her,” he added.
Vidal pleaded guilty to manslaughter in January.
