SOUTH BRONX — The man accused of killing his wife, stabbing her 9-year-old granddaughter five times and lighting their apartment on fire later said he had no idea what happened, according to prosecutors.
Henry Maldonado, 55, was arraigned from his bed in Jacobi Hospital on murder and arson charges and ordered held without bail Thursday afternoon, roughly two weeks after police said he fatally attacked his 60-year-old wife Carmen Irizarry and stabbed her granddaughter Heaven in their home at 700 E. 156th St.
Maldonado also stabbed himself in the chest and later told officials he tried to commit suicide, according to the NYPD and prosecutor Felicity Lung.
He appeared not to know what had happened to his wife and Heaven after the attack, as he asked officials how both of them were doing, Lung said.
"How's Heaven?" Maldonado asked, according to Lung. "She's my granddaughter. I walk her to school every day."
Maldonado had been living with Irizarry for decades and had a history of violence against her, Lung said.
She was sleeping in the same bed as Heaven on the night of the attack when Maldonado started screaming and attacked them both, according to Lung.
Heaven escaped with her life by running upstairs to her neighbor Loretta Fleming's apartment, but Irizarry was killed after Maldonado stabbed her 26 times, according to Fleming and Lung.
Maldonado tried to light the apartment on fire by igniting clothes and paper that were on a table and clothes that were hanging on a rack, Lung said.
Lung asked the judge to order Maldonado held without bail and issue an order of protection for Heaven against him, which the judge granted.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Bloom made no bail application, although he did request medical and psychiatric attention for Maldonado.
Maldonado is due back in court on June 3.
