ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A 75-year-old Rochester man was found stabbed to death inside his eighth-floor apartment on Monday morning, November 9, and his daughter — who occasionally stayed in the apartment with him — was taken into custody at the scene and charged with his murder, the Rochester Police Department said in a statement reported by the Minority Reporter.
Source: Minority Reporter (Rochester Police Department statement)
Officers were dispatched to 1400 South Plymouth Avenue at about 8:30 a.m. on Monday following a report of a stabbing. Inside the eighth-floor apartment they found Charles Alexander, 75, deceased, with multiple stab wounds, police said.
What homicide detectives say happened
According to police, homicide detectives learned during the investigation that Alexander's daughter, Traniece Alexander, occasionally stayed with her father in the apartment. Investigators allege that at about 7:30 a.m. on Monday — roughly an hour before officers were called — Traniece Alexander went to the apartment, physically assaulted her father and stabbed him multiple times. She was taken into custody at the scene. All of this is the police account at this stage: the allegations have not been tested in court, and Traniece Alexander is presumed innocent unless and until she is proven guilty.
Police have charged her with murder in the second degree. In New York, second-degree murder under Penal Law § 125.25 covers, among other forms, intentionally causing the death of another person; it is a class A-I felony, the most serious category in the state's penal law, and a conviction can carry a sentence of up to life in prison. Police did not release Traniece Alexander's age, and the department's statement did not describe a motive, say what weapon was recovered, or give any account of what led up to the attack.
Released: the victim's name and age, the address and floor, the alleged time of the attack, the accused's relationship to the victim, and the charge. Not released: the accused's age, any motive, the type of weapon, or whether police had been called to the apartment before.
The case now moves to court — and possibly a grand jury
Traniece Alexander was scheduled to be arraigned at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 10, in Rochester City Court, the first court appearance at which the charge is formally presented. Police also said additional charges against her may be presented to a Monroe County grand jury. That is the standard path for a felony case in New York: a prosecution of this seriousness normally proceeds on a grand jury indictment, in which jurors hear the prosecution's evidence and decide whether it is strong enough to send the case forward for trial.
An arraignment is not a trial and decides nothing about guilt. A judge at arraignment typically confirms the charge, addresses bail or custody status and counsel, and sets the next dates. The grand jury step, if it happens, will be the first real test of the evidence detectives have gathered from the apartment and from witnesses.
A death inside a family home
Killings inside a family are among the cases that shake a building and a neighbourhood the longest, and this one unfolded in the early morning in a residential tower on South Plymouth Avenue, where other residents of the eighth floor and the floors around it woke to a police investigation in their hallway. Police have not said who called in the stabbing report, whether anyone else was in the apartment, or whether other family members have been notified beyond the identification of Charles Alexander as the victim.
For now, the public record is a short one: a father dead at 75 in the apartment he lived in, a daughter in custody accused of attacking him an hour before police arrived, and a single murder charge with the possibility of more to come from a grand jury. Everything beyond that — what happened between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. on Monday, and why — is what detectives and, next, prosecutors will have to establish.
What happens next
The immediate steps are the City Court arraignment and a decision on custody while the case proceeds. After that, watch for three things: whether a Monroe County grand jury returns an indictment and on what charges; whether police release further detail, including the accused's age and anything about a weapon or motive; and the first court dates in Monroe County's higher court if the case is indicted. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as Rochester police or the courts release more.