Accused Machete-Using Son Charged In Mother's Death: Queens DA

QUEENS, NY — A Queens man who stands accused of brutally killing his elderly mother with a machete, and then fleeing the state, was formally hit with murder charges on Wednesday, officials said.

Osvaldo Diaz, 46, and his mother, Maria Diaz, 78 shared a southeast Queens apartment, which is where he allegedly murdered her last Feb., the District Attorney's office announced on Thursday.

On Feb. 24, 2021, one of the elderly woman's six other children came over to visit her. When she got to the apartment, the woman called her mother numerous times but didn't hear back until her brother answered the phone and told her to go to the store, according to the DA's office.

While she was gone, Diaz left the building, video surveillance shows, leaving his sister to discover a gruesome scene upon her return: her mother's body, bleeding and wrapped in bedding, prosecutors said. (After more missed calls the sister had the property manager open the apartment door, according to the DA's office.)

The elderly woman — who District Attorney Melinda Katz said was attacked with a machete to the point of "near-decapitation" — was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

Katz called the murder an "outburst of violence" that's left an entire family "devastated."

After fleeing the apartment, Diaz reportedly tried to run away to New Jersey, but was found by officials a week later, prosecutors said.

On Wednesday, nearly a year after the murder, he was formally hit with a second-degree murder charge and two criminal weapons charges, according to the DA's office.

He is expected to return to court on Feb. 15 and could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.