A Long Island man accused of stabbing his parents to death last month at the deli they owned allegedly told police “the Lord was talking” to him, prosecutors said in court Tuesday.
Vito D’Ambrosio, a 30-year-old Seaford resident, pleaded not guilty Tuesday at his arraignment and was remanded into custody, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. The defendant stands accused of fatally stabbing his mother, 62-year-old Angela Pulisciano, and his father, 70-year-old Antonio D’Ambrosio, with a 14-inch chef’s knife.
Nassau County prosecutors said the suspect confessed multiple times to killing his parents, according to Newsday. He slit his mother’s throat first before stabbing his father in the neck, police said.
D’Ambrosio walked into A&A Italian Deli & Pizza in Bethpage around 9 a.m. on Dec. 4, allegedly stabbed his parents and then walked out, leaving the knife on the lower shelf of a prep counter. His father and mother had owned the deli for years, and it was a neighborhood staple.
“Vito D’Ambrosio had been kicked out of his house and [was] living in his car since his release from jail for another pending criminal matter,” Donnelly said on Tuesday. “He had nowhere to live and nowhere to work, and his simmering anger finally boiled over into the alleged murder of these beloved business owners.”
Vito D’Ambrosio was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in the case. Prior to his arrest, he was wearing an ankle monitor and had an order of protection against him involving a sibling, investigators said. However, he was detained without incident.
Before the murders, D’Ambrosio allegedly slapped a female coffee shop worker’s buttocks before walking over to the deli, cops said.
D’Ambrosio is due back in court on Jan. 30. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison without parole.
