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Parents Questioned in Murder of UWS Teen Sean Hines

By DNAinfo Staff on October 15, 2011 10:59am

The mother of Sean Hines, who was stabbed to death in his apartment on West 92nd Street on Oct. 14, 2011, is led from the building in cuffs.
The mother of Sean Hines, who was stabbed to death in his apartment on West 92nd Street on Oct. 14, 2011, is led from the building in cuffs.
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DNAinfo/David Torres

By Marina Lopes and Tom Liddy

DNAinfo Reporters

MANHATTAN — A quiet teen who loved to skateboard was stabbed to death at a city housing development on the Upper West Side late Friday night and his mother and stepfather were being questioned, police said.

Sean Hines, 18, was found fatally stabbed at his home on West 92nd Street, near Columbus Avenue just before midnight after several 911 calls were received, according to cops.

The recent high school graduate, who would have turned 19 in days, was pronounced dead at the scene with a wound to his leg.

"He was a good. I know people say that about their kids but he was actually a good kid," said a neighbor, who did not want to give her name.

"I can safely say the same set of friends he played with when he was young is the same set of friends he's with now.

"People are very angry." 

The victim's mother and stepfather, who were not identified, were taken into custody for questioning but were not immediately charged. Both had requested attorneys, according to sources.

As the mom was brought out of the building — part of the West Side Urban Renewal Area — in handcuffs she shouted, "I didn't do it. I didn't do it. My husband did it."

Police sources said that there have been two domestic incidents at the apartment between the mother and the victim involving complaints about assault and child abuse.

Further details were not immediately available and the motive for the stabbing was not immediately clear.

The neighbor who did not want to be named said that Hines' mother was "very excited about his graduation."

"I worry if the mom is gone, there is no family," she said. "I'd go through this whole building to get a collection so we can bury the kid." 

But another neighbor, Mallika Cooper, 21, said that the mom would sometimes kick Hines out of the house.

The teen's death left those who knew him distraught.

"I used to see him in the playground with his skateboard," said Ray Enriquez, 28, a street vendor who often came to the building to see his girlfriend.

"He was quiet. He was a good kid."

The city's Administration for Children's Services said that it had not received a report about the incident, in part, because Hines was not a minor.

It was unknown whether the agency had a case with the family, according to a spokesman.