Note Promises More Murders Unless Malvo Released From Prison
NEW YORK (WJZ) -- Frightening threats are found on a note near the body of a pregnant woman murdered in New York City. The note invokes the name of one of the D.C. snipers who terrorized the Baltimore/Washington region 10 years ago.
Derek Valcourt explains the killer promises more murders unless Lee Boyd Malvo is released from jail.
Wednesday marks 10 years to the day police arrested the D.C. snipers at a Maryland rest stop, allowing the region to breathe a sigh of relief after three weeks of terror that included the murders of 10 people.
Though teenage sniper accomplice Lee Malvo has been in prison for 10 years, his name is back in the headlines--this time in New York City in connection with the murder of Vindalee Smith.
"It's frightening and ridiculous. It's frightening," said one woman.
The 38-year-old pregnant woman was found in her basement apartment Saturday stabbed and her throat slashed just one day before she was to be married.
"Anybody gonna kill someone with a baby, that is...that's wrong," said neighbor Irving Liburd.
According to police, the computer-generated note found under Smith's body reads, "I will kill one pregnant woman a month starting now until Lee Boyd Malvo is set free." It was signed "The Apprentice" and has New York neighbors frightened.
"It's scary," said one woman. "Make me want to get out of here."
The irony is, though Lee Boyd Malvo admitted he pulled the trigger in many of the sniper shootings, he drew the line at killing a pregnant woman. During his 2006 trial, he testified he spent the night in a Baltimore cemetery with a Bushmaster rifle aimed at a fast food restaurant but when a pregnant woman came in his sights, he told jurors, "I just couldn't take the shot."
New York police say they aren't putting much stock in the note, saying it's just a ruse to throw investigators off the track of who actually killed the mother of four.
The victim was just two weeks away from giving birth. Her unborn child did not survive. Police are questioning the victim's fiance, although they have not called him a suspect. They say he was already legally married to another woman.
In a recent newspaper interview, Malvo expressed remorse for the killing spree as he serves out his life sentence. His convicted accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, has already been executed.
