A Queens father is suspected of slitting the throats of his wife and son, then blaming the act on his alternate identity, according to cops. "Otto does not do these things, but Robert does," Otto Herrarte, 48, told investigators, according to the Daily News. "Otto did not do it. Robert did it."
Herrarte — who works as a cleaner at the Helmsley Hotel in Manhattan — apparently confessed to slashing the throats of his wife, Edna, 55, and son, Daniel, 14, on a mattress on Friday before wrapping their bodies in a black plastic and hiding them in a closet inside his Corona home. He has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
When asked on the night of the crime by his other son, David, 15, where his mother where his brother were, the father claimed they were "in a car accident and wouldn't be coming home," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. "The son was unaware the bodies were in the apartment." The following morning, Herrarte called a co-worker with whom he was having an affair and asked her to escort his surviving son to his sister-in-law's home, where according to the Daily News, he told his son: "This is going to be your new mother." Then he brought his mistress to his apartment and told her about the bodies in the closet — and she called police.
Relatives of the victims didn't have many good things to say about Herrarte. "My sister-in-law was like a slave, physically and mentally," Jose Pur, 64, told the Daily News. "Whatever he wants to do, she didn't say nothing." According to the paper, Herrarte "became especially abusive" when he started dating his co-worker. "He used to be [a] nice, nice guy, but he changed since starting to go out with this woman," Pur said. "For me, it's horrible ... [Edna] was a wonderful woman. She loved the kids, and she wanted the best for them."
