Detectives in the Bronx have booked a 34-year-old man for the murder of his estranged wife, an off-duty police officer, in her apartment on Monday morning.
Arianna Reyes-Gomez, 31, who was assigned to the NYPD Transit District, was found stabbed multiple times about her body inside her first-floor apartment at 780 Grand Concourse in Melrose at 2:50 a.m. on June 13.
Her estranged husband — Argenis Baez, 33, of Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx — was officially charged on Monday evening on counts of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
Sources familiar with the investigation said Baez was Reyes-Gomez’s estranged husband, and the murder is being investigated as an apparent case of domestic violence.
Officers from the 44th Precinct discovered the victim after responding to the location for a 911 call about a woman stabbed.
EMS units subsequently pronounced Reyes-Gomez dead at the scene.
“Today, we mourn. Our hearts are heavy as we investigate the tragic murder of an NYPD officer who was off-duty last night in the Bronx,” the NYPD said in a statement released on its Twitter account. “We’re here for her loved ones, her fellow cops — and to ensure the person responsible is brought to justice.”
The New York City Police Benevolent Association (PBA) also mourned Reyes-Gomez’s loss on Twitter.
“We are horrified and heartbroken by the death of our @NYPDTransit sister in the Bronx this morning,” the PBA said in a statement. “We will remain with her family and her colleagues in support and prayer. We will see that justice is done in her name.”
Michael Blake, who lived in the Melrose apartment building next door to where Reyes-Gomez resided, said he overheard the ambulance arrive in the middle of the night.
“In eleven years, there has never been a reason for the news to be here for something so severe,” said Blake.
Meanwhile, authorities said, Baez surrendered later on Monday morning at a neighboring police precinct.
