A home health aide from Queens caring for an 84-year-old woman in her Massapequa home has been indicted for allegedly stabbing the woman as she slept. The defendant allegedly held the knife in the victim’s torso for 16 minutes.
On October 29 at approximately 2:08 a.m., Amanda Fraser, a home health aide caring for an 84-year-old woman in her Massapequa home, entered the woman’s bedroom and allegedly forcefully stabbed a chef’s knife into the woman’s torso. The victim woke up, moaning in pain, and attempted to remove the knife from her body.
Fraser allegedly maintained her grip on the knife handle and, for the next 16 minutes, kept the blade embedded in the victim’s body. She allegedly repeatedly told the victim during this time to “just let go” and “stop fighting it.”
At approximately 2:24 a.m., Fraser allegedly pulled the knife from the woman’s torso and exited the victim’s home.
When police arrived at approximately 8:30 a.m., the victim was transported to Nassau University Medical Center for medical intervention for a puncture wound to her lung. The victim remained in the hospital for treatment of an infection stemming from the stab wound until this week. Police also found the defendant’s Dodge Charger parked in the middle of the front lawn of the victim’s home.
Fraser, 23, was arrested in Queens on October 29 by members of the Nassau County Police Department. She was arraigned today before Judge Colin O’Donnell on indictment charges of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree and two counts of Assault in the First Degree (all Class B violent felonies); Assault in the Second Degree (a Class D violent felony); two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Vulnerable Elderly Person in the First Degree (both Class D felonies); and Endangering the Welfare of an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Person in the First Degree (a Class E felony).
The defendant remains remanded and is due back in court on December 9. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
“For an excruciating 16 minutes as the woman moaned in agony, Amanda Fraser — the woman’s home health aide — held the knife firm in her body and repeatedly whispered for the woman to succumb,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “When she did not die, the defendant left the home, and the woman she was employed to care for, bleeding and alone in her bed. Families rely on the skill and compassion of home health aides to care for ailing loved ones. This defendant allegedly only brought pain and horror to their lives.”