A renter charged with strangling his Queens landlady last year is a Colombian migrant who was admitted to the United States as an unaccompanied teenager, according to sources – while the victim’s enraged sister said authorities kept the case secret until it was too late.
Davi Vidal, 20, illegally crossed the border in San Luis, Arizona, in June 2022 at the age of 17 and was allowed to remain in the country as an unescorted minor, which is standard practice for lone underage migrants who are released into the country for “humanitarian reasons,” according to federal law enforcement sources.
According to sources, Vidal’s “US sponsor” is her aunt in Wisconsin. Sources and records indicate that he received a date for an immigration court hearing, but the timing of this hearing remains unclear.
However, on December 7, 2023, Vidal was still free when he allegedly attacked his landlady, Zoraida Leo, 55, over a rent disagreement, leaving her to die inside her building on 96th Street near Northern Boulevard in East Elmhurst, police said.
Only then did US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issue a detainer to the migrant.
“He’s a migrant who crossed the border illegally,” Maria Leo, the victim’s sister and naturalized Dominican citizen, told The Post. “How is it that the federal authorities released this delinquent only for him to murder an innocent woman—my sister?” Maria Leo asked The Post. Vidal is an assassin.
However, more than a year later, on December 4, 2023, Vidal was still free when he allegedly killed his landlord, Zoraida Leo, 55, and left her dead inside her building on 96th Street near Northern Boulevard in East Elmhurst, according to police.
Authorities report that when Leo’s concerned son returned to check on her the following day, he discovered her body—with Vidal, weeping and scratched, still present on the scene when police arrived.
On December 7, 2023, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Vidal after his arrest. Later that month, they indicted him for second-degree murder.
“He’s a migrant who crossed the border illegally,” Maria Leo, the victim’s sister and naturalized Dominican citizen, told The Post.
“How is it that the federal authorities released this delinquent only for him to murder an innocent woman—my sister?” she asked. Vidal is an assassin,” she explained.
Maria Leo even sent The Post a photocopy of the defendant’s Colombian passport.
Meanwhile, immigration authorities have issued an “INS warrant” for Vidal, according to the local Department of Correction, which declined to comment.
The sanctuary rule in New York City prohibits local officials from honoring ICE deportation orders, except in specific instances.
Vidal’s attorney did not respond by phone for a comment.
Rikers Island is holding the migrant without bail due to murder charges.
The revelation of Vidal’s status comes in the wake of other recent alleged crimes committed by illegal migrants in the country, such as a Honduran national raping a 5-year-old girl on Long Island and a Chilean national shooting his girlfriend and her two sons, killing one of the boys, in Somers, Westchester County.
“I want justice for my sister!” I have no idea what’s going on with this situation. “I’m sad and mad,” Maria Leo stated. “I want the border to be secure.” The majority of individuals who come here are criminals and murderers.
Zoraida, who lived in a two-story home in East Elmhurst, left behind four children and seven brothers and sisters.
Maria Leo claimed that when Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the murder indictment against Vidal on December 13, 2023, she never addressed his immigrant status.
However, Maria Leo stated that the aunt’s husband became enraged when the migrant was discovered smoking marijuana and was kicked out of the house. At that point, he rented the attic unit in Queens, with his aunt promising to cover the rent, according to Maria Leo.
However, the aunt broke the agreement, leaving Vidal living rent-free and spending his days smoking pot—until Zoraida Leo had had enough and told him he was being kicked out, according to her devastated sister.
Hiram Monserrate, a Democratic district leader in East Elmhurst and a former councilman and state senator, attended the victim’s wake when the family contacted him.
“They’re looking for answers,” Monserrate explained. “This was a heinous crime that happened in our community.”
Zoraida Leo participated in her local church, belonged to a women’s rights organization, and took care of her elderly 85-year-old mother, Adelaida Guzman.
“There are a lot of people in the community who knew and loved her,” she said. “There’s no doubt that we need to improve border security. Zoraida helped the guy, and he killed her.”
Katz’s spokesperson told The Post, “The defendant was indicted and remanded.” The matter is moving at a usual pace.”
The District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on what it knew regarding Vidal’s immigration status.
ICE officials did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Jon Feere, a senior adviser to the ICE director under President Donald Trump, said it is not unexpected that victims’ families are unaware of atrocities committed by migrants.
Feere, who worked for the agency from 2017 to 2020, said he helped establish a victims’ advocacy unit within ICE, which was disbanded when President Biden took office.
“We observed the same scenario with other victims. It’s becoming increasingly evident that sanctuary jurisdictions are magnets for illegal immigration.” It leads to a lot of lawlessness, which leads to victimization,” said Feere, who is now the Center for Immigration Studies’ director of investigations.
According to Feere, the District Attorney’s Office may or may not have been aware of Vidal’s immigration status.
“It’s not on their radar if they’re not interested in uncovering this information,” according to him.
