A Queens woman working as a home health aide has been indicted on attempted murder after allegedly plunging a chef’s knife into an elderly Long Island patient as she slept, officials said.
Amanda Fraser, 23, of South Richmond Hill, is accused of using the eight-inch blade to stab the 84-year-old victim in the chest, holding it firmly in her body “for an excruciating 16 minutes as the woman moaned in agony,” Nassau County prosecutors said when announcing Friday’s indictment.
During the stabbing, Fraser repeatedly told the woman over the course of several minutes to “just let go” and “stop fighting it,” according to video evidence recovered from the scene.
“When she did not die, the defendant left the home, and left the woman she was employed to care for bleeding and alone in her bed,” said District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
The shocking incident unfolded in the early hours of Oct. 29 at the victim’s home in Massapequa, where Fraser worked as an overnight home health care aide.
Investigators say Fraser stabbed the woman at approximately 2:08 a.m. and “maintained her grip on the knife handle” for the next several minutes, while whispering for her to succumb.
Fraser allegedly pulled the knife from the woman’s body at approximately 2:24 a.m. and exited the residence. Security footage appears to show her getting into her vehicle and attempting to ram it into the home before fleeing the scene, the victim’s family told WABC.
The woman, identified by her family as Wendy Wilson, wasn’t discovered until just after 8 a.m., when Nassau County detectives responded to a welfare call at the Bay Drive residence.
Wilson was transported to a local hospital in serious critical condition with a stab wound to her lung. She remained hospitalized for an infection stemming from the wound until just this past week, Donnelly said.
Fraser was arrested in Queens later that day. She was arraigned on Friday on charges of attempted murder, assault, endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person and other offenses.
She pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail, according to online court records.
Fraser is due back in court on Dec. 9. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
