Man Faces Murder Charge In NYC Homeless Stabbing Spree: DA

NEW YORK CITY — A man confessed to knifing at least two homeless people sleeping in Manhattan by calling his preferred attack to the stomach the "stabber's choice," prosecutors said.

Trevon Murphy, 40, faces a murder charge in a three-count indictment unveiled Tuesday, said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The charges stem from a high-profile July spate of stabbing attacks on unhoused people sleeping on benches that authorities said they linked to Murphy, who is homeless himself, by surveillance footage.

“These chilling attacks were committed against some of our most vulnerable community members,” Bragg said in a statement. “It is unbelievably tragic that someone lost their life simply because they did not have the safety that comes with a roof over their head."

The attacks — and the charges against Murphy — begin with a July 5 attack on a 34-year-old homeless man who slept along in the Hudson River Greenway, prosecutors said.

The sleeping man screamed awake about 3:09 a.m. when he felt a sharp pain in his lower right abdomen, according to documents. He later died at Bellevue Hospital, but not before telling police he saw a man running away from him, prosecutors said.

Murphy was seen running away across the West Side Highway at that time, according to court records.

Another attack unfolded July 8, when a 59-year-man sleeping on a bench near Madison Avenue and East 49th Street faced a similar attack, authorities said.

"(Murphy) allegedly stared at the victim for approximately 20 minutes and then proceeded to remove a large knife to stab the individual in the lower abdomen before fleeing the scene," a DA's office statement reads.

The man survived the attack, authorities said.

A third suspected attack on July 11 that NYPD officials linked to Murphy appears to not be included on the indictment. But, still, the stabbing spree prompted a widespread search for a suspect that led police, they say, to Murphy, who was arrested July 13.

Murphy gave a full confession to authorities, prosecutors said.

"(Murphy) told officers that he chose the same target location on each victim, the lower abdomen, which he called the 'stabber’s choice,'" a DA's office statement reads.

Murphy faces charges of second-degree murder, attempted murder in the second degree and first-degree assault.