Man's 'murder' linked to stabbing 55 years ago
Detectives have opened a peculiar murder case after a medical examiner determined the recent death of a 97-year-old man was connected to a stabbing 55 years ago.
Antonio Ciccarello was on his way to work in Manhattan in the late 1950s when he was knifed by an unknown assailant, the New York Times reports.
He was taken to hospital and had surgery on his back, but never filed a police report.
Mr Ciccarello died in September 2014 from a bowel obstruction “due to ventral hernias due to remote exploratory laparotomy for treatment of stab wound of torso," his death certificate said.
Mr Ciccarello's death is now being treated as a homocide by New York police, who have opened a murder investigation.
"It baffles the mind; it baffles our family’s mind," his daughter Mary Paloglou told the New York Times.
"The person who stabbed him is probably dead. Long dead."
The investigation is being treated like other, with police searching for witnesses, medical records, old crime reports in a bid to uncover details about what happened to Mr Ciccarello all those years ago.
"The problem we’re coming up with is there are not too many people who are still alive," said commanding officer Lt. Michael Saccone.
"He lived all these years with no problem and all of a sudden, it’s a homicide.”
When it comes to a death that's linked to an attack, neither the age of the victim nor the time that has past matters to medical examiners, the Times reports.
Mr Ciccarello's murder is now counted as one of New York City's record-low number of 332 murders in 2014.
