A 54-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a 39-year-old woman inside a Flushing massage parlor, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Thursday, November 12, in a case that prosecutors say could bring a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Source: Queens District Attorney's Office
The defendant, Zhordrack Blodywon, who is undomiciled, was arraigned on Wednesday, November 11, on a criminal complaint charging him with murder in the first degree, two counts of murder in the second degree, robbery in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, sexual abuse in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, the District Attorney's office said. These are accusations, and Blodywon is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
What prosecutors say happened on November 6
According to the charges and the investigation described by District Attorney Katz, on Friday, November 6, between 3:50 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., Blodywon allegedly entered a massage parlor at 36-17 164th Street in Flushing. While inside the premises, prosecutors allege, he forcibly touched the victim, Shao Ling Huang, 39, stole her property and stabbed her multiple times in her head and throughout her body.
Huang's body was discovered at approximately 4:24 p.m., when another worker went to the establishment to check on her, the District Attorney's office said. Her cell phone was missing from the premises. Earlier reporting by amNewYork, citing law enforcement sources, said surveillance images showed a man wearing all-black clothing entering the parlor at around 4:16 p.m., and PIX11 reported, citing the NYPD, that Huang was an employee of the business and that the suspect was a customer.
"The defendant is accused of sexually abusing and brutally murdering a 39-year-old woman inside a Flushing business last Friday afternoon. Zhordrack Blodywon is now charged with first-degree murder for this horrific act of violence and faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole, if convicted. I thank our partners at the NYPD for quickly apprehending the defendant." — Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz
Arrest three days later, and a court date on November 17
Blodywon was apprehended three days after the killing, on Astoria Boulevard near 98th Street, the District Attorney's office said. NBC New York reported that he was arrested on Monday, November 9, and charged at that stage with murder, robbery and weapon possession, three days after the body was found by police in the first-floor shop on 164th Street at Depot Road in Flushing.
At his arraignment, Queens Criminal Court Judge Jennifer Tubridy remanded Blodywon — meaning he was ordered held in custody — and ordered him to return to court on November 17. If convicted of the top charge, he faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.
Who is running the case
The investigation was conducted by Detective Juliana Villa of the 109th Detective Squad, which covers Flushing, the District Attorney's office said. Assistant Deputy Bureau Chief Kenneth Zawistowski of the District Attorney's Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Alexa Ornelas, under the supervision of Bureau Chief John Kosinski and Deputy Chiefs Karen Ross and Jonathan Selkowe, and under the overall supervision of Chief Assistant District Attorney Shawn Clark.
NBC New York also reported that, according to law enforcement sources, it appeared Blodywon had previously been charged in a 2012 rape and robbery of a woman at a massage parlor in Flushing, and was suspected of beating a massage worker unconscious before raping her in Greenwich Village that same year. Those earlier matters were reported by sources to NBC and were not set out in the District Attorney's November 12 announcement; they are reported here as attributed background, not as findings in the current case.
A worker remembered in Flushing
Red Canary Song, a collective that supports Asian migrant massage workers, remembered Huang — whose name it spells Shaoling Huang — as a mother and a Chinese migrant worker whose earnings supported her 12-year-old son, children in her extended family, her mother and her brother. The group described her as kind, outgoing, dedicated and hard-working. That remembrance underlines what is at stake in this case beyond the courtroom: the safety of immigrant women who work alone, in small storefront businesses, in one of New York City's largest immigrant neighbourhoods.
Flushing, in northern Queens, is one of the city's great immigrant hubs — home to large Chinese, Korean, South Asian and Punjabi communities, and a place where many readers of this site in New York and New Jersey live, work, run small businesses or visit family. A killing inside a small business on a Friday afternoon, in a busy commercial district, is the kind of crime that shakes confidence far beyond a single storefront, which is why the speed of the arrest and the seriousness of the top charge matter to local residents and workers alike.
What happens next
Blodywon remains remanded and is due back in Queens Criminal Court on November 17. Prosecutors must still prove the charges at trial, and the District Attorney's office stresses that criminal complaints are accusations and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Awaaz Punjab will follow the November 17 appearance and any indictment that follows.