It's A Man: N.Y.C. Woman Accused of Fatally Stabbing Postal Worker in Dispute Over Deli Line

[Sugar Cookie]

A New York City postal worker is being remembered as an "honorable man" who "took care of his family" after a woman allegedly fatally stabbed him inside a Harlem deli this week.

Jaia Cruz, 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder on Thursday, Jan. 2, after police were called to Lenox Avenue in Harlem — between 118th and 119th Streets — around 2:38 p.m. local time. After arriving at the scene, New York Police Department (NYPD) officers discovered a man with "multiple stab wounds."

The man, later identified as 36-year-old Bronx resident Ray Hodges, was transported via ambulance to NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, where he was pronounced dead.

Cruz, a Harlem resident, was arrested later that same day.

Hodges was stabbed in the chest, neck and arms at the Harlem deli and was found by police on the floor in his uniform, per a court complaint obtained by the AP.

At the time of the crime, Hodges was ordering a sandwich when a female customer at the counter began arguing with him about whose turn it was to order. She then allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed the postal worker, a deli worker told CBS News New York.

Janet Rich, a customer at the deli, told The New York Daily News that the stabbing was "over a sandwich" and that she tried to intervene along with another person when the pair began to argue over who was first in line.

A sandwich maker told the outlet, and The New York Post, that the suspect stepped in front of the victim in line, before a dispute led to her allegedly spitting in his face, him throwing a plastic bottle and her pulling the knife.

After the stabbing, the suspect allegedly fled to her Harlem apartment before being arrested, per both outlets. It was not immediately clear if Cruz has retained an attorney.

N.Y.C. Woman, 24, Accused of Fatally Stabbing Postal Worker in Dispute Over Deli Line

A 24-year-old New York City woman was arrested and charged with murder after allegedly fatally stabbing a postal worker at a Harlem deli on Jan. 2.

people.com

A creepy new video exposes the full face of the knife-wielding maniac who viciously stabbed postal worker Ray Hodges to death in a Harlem deli this week.

Troubled transgender woman Jaia Cruz is seen up close rolling her eyes and smiling seductively in a nine-second video, while a song blasts the raunchy lyrics, “I’m such a wh-re, but I’m not a hoe,” in the background.

Even before the heinous Harlem slaying Cruz had a rap sheet with five arrests, including once in July 2020 for waving an open box cutter at a person in Midtown West and shouting “I’m going to cut him,” according to police sources.

Exclusive | Knife-wielding transgender woman accused of killing NYC postal worker smiles, rolls eyes in creepy video

Troubled transgender woman Jaia Cruz is seen rolling her eyes and smiling seductively in a nine-second-long video, while a song blasts the raunchy lyrics, “I’m such a wh-re, but I’m not a hoe,” in …

nypost.com

 

[Freyja]

Enough said!

 

[Crazy Cat Lady]

Bitch, you’re a ho.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Why they are referring to it as a woman is disgusting

The transformer who allegedly knifed a postal worker during a spat at a Harlem deli confessed to the shocking slaying — unapologetically declaring that the father-of-two “deserved it,” prosecutors said Thursday.

A packed courtroom greeted Jaia Cruz, 24, after it was indicted on a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of USPS postman Ray Hodges, 36, who prosecutors said confronted It about cutting him on line at the deli counter inside the bodega.

The hearing and court filings revealed chilling new details about the broad daylight Jan. 2 melee at Joe’s Deli Grocery, including Cruz’s alleged shameless admission as Hodges lay dying.

“When the decedent collapsed to the ground, a witness heard [Cruz] state, ‘He deserved it,'” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Clerkin said during the hearing.

Cruz, who pleaded not guilty, was ordered held without bail by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro.

It's attorney, Mitchell Schuman, of New York County Defender Services, grew heated over the prosecutor’s picture of the incident.


Schuman contended Cruz, a transformer, was “harassed” by Hodges — whom he painted as the aggressor.

He said video showed Hodges hurled slurs at Cruz, and that it only used the pocket knife — which it bought at a dollar store moments before the altercation, prosecutors claimed — after it felt threatened.

Hodges took off his jacket in the video, “the international symbol in New York City for ‘Let’s go, we’re going to fight,’ and rolls up his sleeves and hits her,'” Schuman told the court.

“While he’s still berating her, he called her a f—-t and a t—-y and she spit on him.”

The attorney’s claim that Cruz defended herself from hateful harassment sparked outrage in the crowded courtroom gallery — which was divided between Hodges’ friends, family and fellow postal workers, and the accused killer’s allies.

One of Hodges’ supporters yelled “f–k outta here” before he was escorted from the courtroom.

Court papers contended that Cruz admitted to stabbing Hodges in rambling, slur-filled statements to cops and DA investigators after her arrest.

She said she distrusted black men such as Hodges and “blacked out” during the fight, according to the filings.

“I’m trying to feel guilty, but I’m not really guilty,” she said, according to the papers. “I’m tired, I woke up in a bad mood today. People trying to start with me. I’m like, come on!

“I hope he’s maggot food. I killed him laughing, oh well.”

Read complete article here

Sicko who allegedly killed postal worker during NYC deli spat made chilling confession, DA says: ‘He deserved it’

Jaia Cruz, 24, was indicted on a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of USPS postman Ray Hodges, 36, who prosecutors said confronted her about cutting him on line at the deli counter …

nypost.com

Video footage showed Cruz being brutally beaten during the spring last year.

 

[cubby]

Unfortunate looking as a man but as a woman, extremely unfortunate looking.

I'm glad this person is so honest about what they did, won't be difficult to find him guilty and send him to prison.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Unfortunate looking as a man but as a woman, extremely unfortunate looking.

I'm glad this person is so honest about what they did, won't be difficult to find him guilty and send him to prison.

Will get a slap on the wrist when they claim mental health issues combined with PTSD.

 

[Freyja]

He will never be a woman. And look at that lack of hips and ass!

 

[Sugar Cookie]

“I did spit on him because he called me a f—-t,” Cruz’s confession reads. “I called him a dirty monkey. You said hurtful words, so I said hurtful words to you.”

As their dispute escalated, Cruz claimed that Hodges struck her three times before she pulled a knife and stabbed him in self-defense, according to court documents.

“I told him, ‘You come to me and I’ll kill you,'” Cruz told investigators. “No motherf—-rs are going to put their hands on me no more.”

“He tried to mess with me because I’m trans and I poked him up,” said Cruz, who is a transgender woman.

Hodges, who lived in the Bronx, reacted to the stabbing with astonishment, saying, “You really stabbed me?” to which Cruz replied, “Yes I did,” court documents state.

‘I killed him laughing,’ Jaia Cruz, postal worker’s alleged murderer, told NYPD after deli slay

“I hope he’s maggot food,” Jaia Cruz, 24, told detectives in a statement recorded at the 28th Precinct stationhouse hours after the Jan. 2 stabbing.

www.nydailynews.com

 

[Totemic]

So if I wake up in a bad mood, I can go cut in line at a deli and stab someone? And all will be good right? Because I woke up in a pissy mood?

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The mom of a postal worker stabbed to death in a Manhattan deli slammed prosecutors Wednesday for striking a deal to let her son’s ruthless killer take a plea deal for just 15 years behind bars.

“She’s going to get out early and kill again,” Ada Rice told The Post after Jaia Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the Jan. 2 slaying of USPS postman Roy Hodge at Joe’s Deli Grocery in Harlem.

The plea deal comes less than three months after prosecutors indicted Cruz on a second-degree murder charge for the broad-daylight killing, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life.

But Hodge’s mom said she was left stunned when Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Clerkin told Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gregory Carro that Cruz “expresses remorse and has asked to accept responsibility for [Hodge’s] death” — despite prosecutors’ admitting Hodge’s family opposed the offer.

Rice said she was left “very upset” with the judicial system in part because she claims the Manhattan DA’s office had told her that they believed in the strength of the case, especially a video from inside the bodega which allegedly shows Cruz spar with Hodge after he cut her in line at the deli counter.

Continue reading

Mom of postal worker killed in NY deli stabbing slams plea deal for 15-year sentence: ‘She’ll get out early and kill again’

Jaia Cruz faced 25 years to life — but got 15 years Wednesday.

nypost.com

@BuffettGirl She wants to accept responsibility so she can hormones and bottom surgery.

Why is the mother referring to her as a woman she is a man.

 

[BuffettGirl]

This country is sick and getting sicker by the minute. Fucking mind virus distorting reality... If you once did or currently possess a biologically attached penis you are not now and never will be a woman!

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The knife-wielding transgender woman who viciously stabbed a postal worker to death in a Harlem deli earlier this year was sentenced Thursday to 15 years behind bars.

Jaia Cruz, 24 — who ruthlessly killed USPS worker Ray Hodges after an argument in January — was given the sentence after striking a plea deal, infuriating relatives of Hodges at the Manhattan court hearing who wanted more time.

“This is pure evil. This is a disgusting excuse for a human being and you allowed a second chance,” the mother of Hodges’ children, whose name wasn’t immediately clear, told Judge Gregory Carro “When people like this are allowed plea bargains, you get broken families, you get us. I’m not happy with fifteen years,” she raged. “To all these postal workers, be careful when you are out there working your route.”

In April, Cruz pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the Jan. 2 slaying of Hodges, a 36-year-old father of two, at Joe’s Deli Grocery.

At the sentencing Thursday, an attorney for Cruz’ said Hodges made a “slur” about “her gender identity” during the deli clash.

The lawyer also listed medications that Cruz, who has history of knife violence, has been taking to maintain her gender and requested that she be placed in female jail facility.

After the sentencing, Hodges’ furious family members began chanting “It’s a boy!” and “F–king boy!”inside the courtroom as other supporters wore “Justice for Ray” t-shirts.

‘Pure evil’ transgender woman who fatally stabbed postal worker inside NYC deli sentenced to 15 years: ‘Disgusting excuse for a human being’

Hodges’ furious family members began chanting “It’s a boy!” and “F–king boy!” as other supporters wore “Justice for Ray” t-shirts.

nypost.com

15 years (if that) and sex reassignment surgery isn't NY great.

She is housed at Bedford Hills which is a female only prison.

There is no listing of it's sex.

I think part of the plea was due to the aggressiveness of the victim, he himself did not come across sympathetic.

CRUZ, JAIA​

Housing / Releasing Facility: BEDFORD HILLS​

CRIME: MANSLAUGHTER

Aggregate Maximum Sentence: 15 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days​

Earliest Release Date: 11/09/2037​