An elderly, deaf woman who was fatally stabbed in her Brooklyn apartment by a relative who also slashed her son was “an angel,” heartbroken neighbors told the Daily News.
Police responding to a 911 call around 9:30 a.m. Friday found Malka Semenduyeva, 72, and a 47-year-old son who lived with her, both stabbed multiple times in their apartment on Bedford Avenue, near U in Sheepshead Bay.
Medics transported both victims to Coney Island Hospital, where Semenduyeva died, police said. His son is expected to survive.
The attacker was a relative, according to police.
Semenduyeva’s neighbors told The News they believed the attacker was another adult son who also lived with Semenduyeva.
At a memorial in the building’s lobby on Saturday, neighbors, friends and family members shared their thoughts about Semenduyeva, who was deaf, as NYPD crime scene investigators entered and were going out.
“I mean, besides being the kindest and most beloved neighbor, she was a mother, a sister, an aunt,” said Emilia Loginova, 38, who lived on the same floor as Semenduyeva and said that his family had become closer to the victim.
“She just had the most beautiful energy. She was always smiling, always happy, always grateful to see people, always remembered everyone,” Loginova said. “And just, you know, the way she died, [she] did not deserve [of that].”
“The way it happened, we couldn’t sleep,” Loginova lamented. “We are all devastated, crying and anxious about this. She was one of the kindest women I have ever met. She was an angel, not a bad bone in her body, not even a bad thought. She couldn’t communicate, but she could read my lips, I could read her lips, so you could feel her energy. She was a very beautiful soul. And I think we just lost an angel.
Another neighbor said Semenduyeva inspired her to learn sign language.
“She was so nice, and that was kind of why I was learning sign language, because all I knew was, ‘Thank you,’” said neighbor Selicia Smith, 41. “Sometimes I would see her and say, ‘Where are you going?’ ?’ And she says “at home.” You know, we’ll talk. So that’s one of the reasons I learned sign language.
Smith said Semenduyeva’s 47-year-old son often translated for his mother. “The other son would tell me what she says. He was nice,” Smith said.
But for another brother, it was a different story, according to Smith. “If I come in here and he’s waiting for the elevator, I’ll never come in.” I’m afraid of this man. I’m not lying,” Smith said.
Loginova said she would also avoid the other brother. “I wouldn’t even go in the elevator” if he were there, she said.
Several neighbors reported hearing frequent loud arguments and screaming coming from Semenduyeva’s apartment. Neighbors said they called 911 several times, but said their frequent calls were never successful.
Neighbors said they believed the second brother had a “big drug problem” that could have exacerbated the fighting neighbors heard coming from the apartment.
“He always did drugs, and like at one point, I even remember yesterday, the day before yesterday, seeing him outside and seeing these eyes, like you knew there was a demonic state in him at that moment,” Loginova said.
Longtime residents of the building said Semenduyeva — who had lived there for 20 years, according to the superintendent — would intervene when fights between the sons became violent. Neighbors speculated that Semenduyeva may have tried to intervene in a fight between the sons when she died.
“No one deserves this, because she loves her son, she loved them both,” Loginova said.
