Queens Man Charged With Murder For Mother's Slashing: DA

WOODSIDE, QUEENS — A Woodside man was charged with murder Thursday after fatally slashing his elderly mother in the head with a kitchen knife, prosecutors said.

Police found the body of 78-year-old Carmelita Cabansag slumped on the kitchen floor next to a bloodied meat cleaver Friday morning in the apartment she shared with her son, David Galicia, according to the Queens district attorney's office.

Galicia, 48, who was there when first responders arrived, was taken to the hospital for harming himself. There, he told police that he had woken up that morning and stabbed his mother but wasn't sure why he did it, prosecutors said.

He was arraigned while hospitalized on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

"This was an alleged act of matricide with blood splattered on the walls and pooling on the floors in the living room and kitchen," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement Thursday.

Galicia's lawyer, Anne D'Elia, did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

If convicted, Galicia faces up to 25 years to life in prison.