'Kind Soul' Dies A Year After Being Stabbed In Neck In Red Hook

RED HOOK, NY — A Red Hook woman stabbed in the neck by her boyfriend has died after spending a year in the hospital, police and those who knew the victim said Thursday.

Officers responded to a 911 call of an assault inside 30 Centre Mall in Red Hook on April 6, 2017 and discovered Lanique Rios, 21, with a stab wound to her neck.

Emergency responders rushed Rios to a nearby hospital. Once she was stabilized, Rios was transferred to Saint Johns Queens Rehabilitation Center in Rego Park where she remained for more than a year with a tube in her throat to help her breath until she succumbed to her injuries on May 18, 2018, authorities said.

A family friend remembered Rios as a "sweet woman" whose relatives were devastated not only by her long-term hospitalization but by her mother's passing in January, 2018.

“She had a lot of love in her life she seemed like a kind soul," said Sheri Williams-Pugh, who said she is the owner of the Heritage Memorial Chapel where Rios' funeral and her mother's was held.

"It was very devastating for her being in the hospital for a year, and when her mother passed away she couldn't go to the funeral she had to FaceTime in from her hospital bed," said Williams-Pugh.

Over the last year, a non-stop flood of relatives visited Rios in the hospital, decorating her room with plum purple cut outs of her name, paintings of flowers and bringing festive bunny ears, shamrock glasses and Santa hats for holidays.

"They were there every day," said Williams-Pugh. "She was never alone."

In a written memorial on the chapel's website family members described the 21-year-old as the "life of the party" with dreams of being a masseuse. Her positive attitude was infectious, according to relatives who wrote the message.

"She will forever be remembered for sitting [too] close to the tv as well as her kind heart and brighter smile," the memorial reads. "Even though her last days were spent recovering from a tragic incident she was still the same Nique. The Nique who cracked jokes on everybody and tell them off if needed. She will be missed by many."

Police recovered a knife from the apartment where Rios was attacked and arrested John Monhammed, who once dated Rios, officials said. At the time, Monhammed was hit with a slew of charges including attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment and menacing.

Now that Rios has died, officials are treating the case as a homicide, a police spokesman said.

"He was charged the day of the assault, so now that the incident has been deemed a homicide you’re going to see additional charges," said NYPD Lieutenant Thomas Antonetti.

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