Ex NYPD cop arraigned for murder of own Mum

By Bamidele Johnson

A 46-year-old former Officer of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), Oswaldo Diaz, may spend 25 years to life imprisonment in prison if convicted on murder and other charges for allegedly attacking his mother with a machete – “to the point of near-decapitation.”

Oswald Diaz attacked the victim, Maria Diaz, 78, on February 24, 2021, in an apartment that he and his mother shared above a beauty salon in Queens.

Diaz entered a plea of not guilty, even as his attorney, Jose Nieves, has requested a psychiatric evaluation for his client.

The borough’s District Attorney Melinda Katz, said the accused man’s sister had planned with her mother to run errands and take a walk together. But when the sister arrived at the apartment and called her mother’s cell phone numerous times, there was no answer.

I“Eventually Osvaldo Diaz picked up and told his sister to go to the store alone. When she returned, she was again met with unanswered calls, prompting her to summon the landlord for access into the apartment.

“There, she discovered her mother’s bleeding body wrapped in bedding, and her brother gone. According to the indictment, video surveillance recorded him leaving the apartment after his sister left for the store.

“The victim was declared dead at the scene. No motive was given for the alleged murder, “

It is gathered from the prosecutor’s office says Diaz was on the run for a week before he was caught in New Jersey. The alleged killer remained in New Jersey until he was returned last week to Queens for his arraignment on a charge of second-degree murder. He is also to face two counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

“This outburst of violence has devastated the victim’s family, which includes her other six children,” Katz said in her statement.

The suspect was ordered held in jail without bail. An attorney who might speak for him was not immediately identified.