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Man Charged With Murdering Wife in Midtown Salon Pleads Not Guilty

By DNAinfo Staff on March 24, 2011 3:53pm  | Updated on March 25, 2011 6:03am

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — An ex-con accused of hacking his estranged wife to death in the Herald Square beauty salon where she worked as a hairdresser was ordered held without bail on Thursday.

Alleged killer Michael Kenny, 42, appeared Thursday afternoon for the first time in a Manhattan courtroom since the March 10 death of his wife, Denise Kenny, 41. After repeatedly stabbing her, he knocked over a cash register at the salon and swiped $800 before he fled south, to Maryland, using a van he stole from his Brooklyn employer, prosecutors said.

Witnesses at the D'Galinas Beauty Salon heard a bloodcurdling scream after a loud argument between the couple, according to reports.

She was found slumped over the toilet in the second-floor bathroom of the salon. The mother of two was pronounced dead shortly afterward at Bellevue Hospital.

Kenny was apprehended in Maryland where he was held until he was extradited to New York. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, criminal contempt and larceny charges on Thursday.

While in custody, he allegedly shouted racial and sexist slurs — some apparently aimed at female Maryland EMS workers — as he was taken to the hospital for medical treatment after a five-mile highway chase resulted in his arrest.

He also admitted to slashing his wife and said used lewd sexual words to denigrate her.

"Do you know I stabbed her? Seven times. With a knife," he said, according to court papers filed Thursday.

He also apparently rambled about drug use and some of his previous criminal acts.

"I like doing drugs. I like getting high. When I did the armed robbery I told the judge I’m guilty. All I give a f**k about is if you listen to me. I want you to get it word for word," he allegedly said.

At the arraignment Thursday, the victim's oldest son, Davis, and a woman who identified herself as Denise Kenny's sister, sat nervously in the courtroom watching Kenny's arraignment. They were shaking and appeared horrified when a handcuffed Kenny turned to face the gallery and spotted them.

On their way out of the courtroom, the sister said it was "unbearable" to see the alleged cold-blooded murderer in person.

Kenny was living at a halfway house in Brooklyn when he allegedly went on his deadly rampage. He has criminal convictions in New York and New Jersey and had been arrested last year for violating an order of protection against him that ordered him to refrain from any contact with Denise.

"Just remember what I tell you if you ever leave me, the things I could do to you," a Jan. 11, 2010 message read, according to the old complaint.

He also text-messaged her incessantly. "Don't take me for a fool; I'm looking at you; Why did you move so close to our old home?" the eerie message read.

The Manhattan DA called this case an example of why stronger laws are needed to protect victims of domestic violence.

"Domestic violence is a criminal justice and public health crisis, and this case sadly underscores how quickly the relationship between abuser and victim can turn deadly," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement announcing Kenny's indictment.

Kenny is due back in court on May 24.

The DA encouraged domestic violence victims to call the office’s Domestic Violence Hotline at 212-335-4308.