A Queens man convicted of brutally murdering his mother and brother in the Queens home they all shared was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison Monday by an outraged judge who called him a “demon seed.”
After being castigated in court by his own grandmother, uncle and sister, Roscoe Danielson, 42, learned the price he will pay for the Fourth of July 2023 bloodbath in their East Elmhurst home.
“This is only the second time that this court has had within the walls of this courtroom a person who I can only describe as what I call the demon seed,” said Judge Kenneth Holder.
“To me, it describes a person who would take the very life of the person who gave them life. It’s a characterization of a person that is so rare that if a mother — if your mother — knew with certainty what terror the future held with your birthright, your birth, frankly, might have been halted.”
Danielson knifed his 31-year-old brother Kyle Danielson 50 times and shot him in the torso before dragging his corpse to the sidewalk in a trash bag.
He stabbed his 59-year-old mother Cheryl Myrick 38 times and left her to decompose in the family’s home on 104th St.
Obtained by Daily News
Surveillance video shows Roscoe Danielson dragging a trash bag containing his brother’s body to the curb in Queens in July 2023. (Obtained by Daily News)
The judge’s tongue lashing was just as brutal as the ones given by Danielson’s own relatives, including his maternal grandmother, who took public solace in the possibility that he could die in prison.
“You’re no good, Roscoe,” Catherine Myrick said during the Queens Supreme Court hearing. “You’re going to suffer upstate where you’re going. And you’re going to know what it is night after night after night. You had no business doing what you did to your mother and your brother. They did nothing to you, nothing but give you a place to stay after you come out of the shelter. You need to be ashamed of yourself, young man. You’re gonna die upstate New York.”
Danielson, 42, was convicted last month after a two-week trial of two counts of murder, criminal possession of a weapon, tampering with physical evidence, concealment of a human corpse and endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutors said that after his brother’s body was discovered on July 5, 2023, Danielson was taken into custody with a knife and a loaded .9mm pistol tucked inside a baby carriage holding his 3-year-son, whose soiled diapers were so full they were leaking onto the tot’s clothes.
His mother’s decomposing body was found early the next day. Both victim’s had been killed on July 4, investigators determined.
Roscoe Danielson
Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News Roscoe Danielson at his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Aug. 2, 2023. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News)
“Roscoe Danielson murdered his mother and brother in one of the grisliest crime scenes we have ever encountered,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement Monday. “We hope today’s sentence brings the family of Cheryl Myrick and Kyle Danielson a measure of solace as they continue to mourn.”
Kyle Danielson and Cheryl Myrick
Obtained by Daily News Kyle Danielson and Cheryl Myrick. (Obtained by Daily News)
Family members said they are still hurting.
They described Danielson as a jealous freeloading son and brother who refused to carry his share of the load and rebelled when he was asked to pitch in.
“I want to say this to you, Roscoe: You are a horrible guy,” said the murdered mom’s brother, Andre Myrick, “Man, you killed my sister. You just couldn’t go get you a job. You couldn’t help nobody. My sister did nothing to you. Look at you, son. Your life is done.”
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Rebecca White/for New York Daily News Candles are pictured on July 7, 2023, at the site where Roscoe Danielson dragged a body in a garbage bag on 104th St. in East Elmhurst, Queens. (Rebecca White for New York Daily News)
Andre Myrick said the accused killer moved back into the family home after he was booted from a shelter about two years ago when authorities caught him with a gun. He previously received a dishonorable discharge after joining the Army.
Danielson’s sister, Danielle Danielson, said the Fourth of July was one of her mother’s favorite holidays.
“This was not just a loss. It was a horrible manner that has shattered our lives in ways that can never be repaired,” she said in court. “My mother was a kind, gentle and selfless woman. She never hit us, never drank, never partied. She worked hard and raised us with love and patience. She taught us everything she knew and gave us everything she could, even when she had very little for herself. She did not deserve to die this way.”