Suspect in gruesome killing of 64-year-old with extension cord on her Queens porch ‘hears voices': attorney
A man charged with the gruesome killing of a former coworker on her Queens porch 'hears voices' and has hallucinations, his lawyer said Saturday.
Francisco Sevilla, 40, allegedly struck Juliet Kashidas-Singh, 64, 'repeatedly about the head and body' and then 'dragged her body using a cord that was tied around her neck' at 103rd Avenue near 105th Street in Ozone Park, Queens, on Thursday, according to a criminal complaint.
Sevilla, who weighs 350 pounds and stands 5-foot-3, 'hears voices' and has hallucinations, his defense attorney David Strachan said, as he asked for a psychiatric evaluation of his client.
Sevilla pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, court records show.
He told investigators he was 'under the influence' and doesn't remember anything, according to sources.
Kashidas-Singh, a breast cancer survivor, and Sevilla worked in construction together and were fighting over $300 that she apparently owed him, sources said.
Sevilla, who was arrested hours after the murder with his hands still drenched in blood, was sent to Rikers Island correctional facility without bail, according to records.
Sevilla is a Mexican national who has been in the US for two years, sources said. It's not known if he entered the country legally.
His next court date is scheduled for March 5.
Additional reporting by Brigitte Stelzer
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
13 hours ago
- The Hill
Live updates: Trump to sit down with Canadian leader; Israel claims air superiority in Tehran
President Trump is set to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Alberta. The leaders will meet for the second month in a row, amid elevated tensions caused by Trump's tariffs on Canada and his references to the nation as the 51st U.S. state. Trump is also expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum while at the G7. And on Sunday, as he left the White House, he said he expects a 'few more trade deals' to come out of the gathering. Across the globe, Israel and Iran traded strikes for a fourth day on Monday. At least eight people died in Israel as Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks, while Israel warned residents of part of Tehran to evacuate ahead of new strikes. The Israeli military also said Monday it had gained air superiority over Tehran, able to fly over the capital with few threats. And a day after his surrender, suspect Vance Boelter is scheduled to appear Monday afternoon in a Minnesota courtroom to face charges after the weekend slayings of a lawmaker and her husband, plus the shootings of two other people. Other stories to watch: Follow along all day for updates to these stories and more.
Miami Herald
14 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Video shows military-style vehicle in what witnesses say was a California immigration raid
LOS ANGELES - A typical Monday afternoon in Compton was shattered for several neighbors who saw, to their surprise, a drab green military-style vehicle roll up. A person stood in the open hatch wearing fatigues, a helmet and what they said appeared to be body armor. Residents who spoke to The Times said it was an immigration enforcement team using an armored vehicle for a raid in which a family including children was detained. Video of the June 9 incident reviewed by The Times shows the person in the vehicle is holding a gun with what looks like a paintball hopper protruding from the top, a configuration that has been used to shoot non-lethal munitions including pepper spray balls during protests. At one point, the person points the barrel of the gun down from its vertical position; it's unclear whether any shots are fired. The video provides a partial view of the vehicle from across the street. Only the top, its hatch and the armed person are visible, along with another piece of equipment that resembles a wall-breaching tool. Neighbors who spoke to The Times on Sunday - several of whom asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation - said that the vehicle took down the home's front gate. Then officers took away five to seven people who were inside, at least two of whom were children, the neighbors said. It was unclear on Sunday what agency might have conducted the action, and witnesses' claims could not immediately be verified. Compton is policed by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which said Sunday evening that "at this time, we are unaware of an incident." The National Guard referred all inquiries to U.S. Northern Command, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday evening. The White House, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also did not respond to requests for comment. The location of the raid was a one-story house next to a set of railroad tracks just a few blocks from the runway at Compton-Woodley Airport. On Sunday, colorful Easter decorations were still posted out front next to bright yellow flowers and a faded "Security One" home security placard. A red-and-green Mexico-themed soccer ball sat on the well-tended lawn. The driveway gate of the waist-high chain-link fence dividing the front yard from the sidewalk was bent and mangled, lashed to a metal fence pole with white rope. The windshield and driver's side window of a white van in the driveway were smashed, which next-door neighbor Jesse Ramirez said happened during the raid. Ramirez, 25, said when he got home from work on June 9, family members who were home at the time told him what happened, and a neighbor showed him video of the incident. "They took our neighbors," he said. "They came and tore down the fence with one of their armored vehicles." Ramirez said five people of Mexican descent - two parents, a third adult, and two teenagers - were detained. None of them have returned. Across the street, Frank Cervantes, 35, said he was at Chuck E. Cheese when the incident took place but watched it on video captured by his Ring camera. Now, "everyone's all stressed" in the neighborhood, he said. "It was like a war vehicle - SWAT-style," Cervantes said. "That's horrible, man. It's almost authoritarian." Cervantes lamented what he sees as a waste of resources. "They need to be near the border fighting fentanyl, what are they doing here?" he said of the raid. Ramirez said the incident came as a shock to him and his loved ones. "It's a bit scary, considering I have family who are immigrants," he said. "The lengths they'll go to - they took kids. ... That's traumatic for them to go through." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
15 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
California immigrant communities go quiet amid ICE raids
Escalating immigration enforcement in Southern California has sparked protests, vandalism and sporadic clashes with police as President Trump has sent troops to downtown L.A. In other parts of Greater Los Angeles, undocumented immigrants — and even those who are here legally but fear racial profiling — are exercising extra caution navigating their daily lives. My colleagues reported that some communities have been unusually quiet, with residents saying they are avoiding going out and attending to routine business for fear of being stopped. Here are some places where foot traffic is significantly down: MacArthur Park On Friday, the area around the longtime hub west of downtown was noticeably quieter than usual. Many of the vendors whose carts once lined South Alvarado Street were gone. A number had already left earlier this year when the city put up fencing after a gang-related shooting that wounded six people. 'There's like sadness, maybe grief. I think a lot of fear, a lot of fear is going around these communities. And yeah, people are walking around just very cautious, very cautious,' Cristina Serrano told The Times as she was doing mitt work at Panda Boxing Gym. The gym's owner now regularly walks up and down the block looking for signs of trouble and to make sure that people in the gym feel safe, Serrano said. Downey With its stately homes and bustling business districts, Downey has long been known to some as the 'Mexican Beverly Hills.' But the Southeast L.A. County city of more than 110,000 people has been roiled by Trump immigration raids, sparking both fear and outrage. Downey Councilmember Mario Trujillo said the raids are 'creating a culture of fear' that's prompting people, even those with documents, to stay home out of concern they could be targeted by federal agents simply for being Latino. The downtown Downey area, which had already been hurting amid a tenuous economy, is now a ghost town, Trujillo said. Last week, masked federal agents detained at least 12 people from businesses in Downey, but community members were able to discourage them from taking one man without proper documents. Trujillo said he understood that immigration agents have a job to do, but the council member questioned the necessity of grabbing workers who are trying to support their families and people just trying to go about their daily lives. Oxnard At farms in Ventura County, workers who would typically be moving up and down the rows of strawberry plants were largely absent. The entry gates to many area farms were shut and locked. Juvenal Solano, a director with the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, told The Times he felt relieved. Silence was better than the chaos that broke out days earlier when immigration agents raided fields in Oxnard and across other communities in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties that grow a considerable portion of the state's strawberries, avocados and celery. Community groups told The Times they had confirmed that at least 35 people were detained in the raids. Meanwhile, the Trump administration appeared to be changing its tune as immigration officers were directed to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels after the president expressed alarm about the effects of his aggressive enforcement, an official said Saturday. Here's more coverage of the immigration raids and protests: Today's great photo is from Times photographer Jason Armond at the 'No Kings' demonstration in downtown L.A. Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
