Boyfriend of Pregnant Real Estate Agent Charged with Murder After She Was Found Stabbed in Her Foyer
The boyfriend of the pregnant real estate agent, who was stabbed and left in a pool of blood in the entranceway of her Queens, New York apartment building, has been arrested.
On Friday, 48-year-old Anthony Hobson turned himself in to police — in the presence of his lawyer, New York Police Department tells PEOPLE.
Hobson was taken into custody and charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence, abortion and criminal possession of a weapon after Jennifer Irigoyen, 35, was found at her residence with multiple stab wounds to her neck and torso.
On the morning of Feb. 3, Irigoyen’s neighbor Maurice Roman Zereoue says he watched in horror as Irigoyen, who was 5 months pregnant at the time, was savagely dragged down the stairs of the complex.
“He’s got a knife! He’s going to kill the baby!” Zereoue told The New York Post he heard Irigoyen screaming.
“I seen her hands hanging on to a hallway for dear life.”
Zereoue’s girlfriend dialed 911 as he ran down to their apartment lobby to help Irigoyen, he told The New York Post.
By the time he got there, Irigoyen was lying in a pool of her own blood. “She had a little dog with her, a pug, I think. Its feet were soaked in blood,” Zereoue told the paper.
“I asked, ‘Do you know who he was?’ And she kept nodding yes and waving her arm,” Zereoue told The Post. “She couldn’t speak.”
The attacker was allegedly seen fleeing the building following the murder — leaving a trail of blood behind, CBS New York reported.
When police arrived on the scene, Irigoyen was transported to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Her unborn baby also did not survive the attack.
Police were able to obtain surveillance footage from the building, which show Irigoyen’s killer — who police now claim is Hobson.
“This was a heinous crime,” District Attorney Richard Brown said, according to ABC 7.
“A woman was brutally stabbed, killing her and the unborn child. The defendant is alleged to have shown no mercy and regard for human life when he repeatedly and purposely plunged a knife into this expectant mother’s abdomen, torso and neck,” Brown said.
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Irigoyen was already a parent to a 12-year-old son from a previous relationship, The Post reported.
“I’m still shocked,” Irigoyen’s landlord Lisa Ramos told the CBS New York. “She was a sweetheart, sweetheart. Really, really nice girl.”
Hobson’s attorney Steven Questore did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“The defendant knew that the victim was 14 weeks pregnant at the time,” Assistant DA Bryan Kotowski said at Hobson’s arraignment, New York Daily News reported.
“The day of the investigation, the defendant not only fled Queens County, but fled the state. He only turned himself in when his family informed him the police were looking for him,” Kotowski alleged.