Machete killing reveals violent history of suspect, troubled past of victim
Ben Rubin and Colin Gustafson
bfrubin@lohud.com
NEW ROCHELLE — A 30-year-old New Rochelle man was high on a concoction of drugs, including PCP, when he attacked his girlfriend with a machete in his North Avenue apartment, the suspect's roommate said Sunday.
Akeem Lindsay, a man with a history of violent crime and drug problems, was arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder Sunday morning in New Rochelle City Court. He is accused of fatally slashing Lisa Stabler — a 29-year-old New Rochelle mother with a troubled past — just before midnight Friday.
Police said they suspect Lindsay was on drugs at the time of his arrest.
"He was demonically possessed," said a visibly shaken Daniel Wilcha, who lives with his girlfriend in a sublet bedroom in Lindsay's apartment.
Wilcha said he and his girlfriend were behind closed doors in another room of Apt. 12 of 309 North Ave. Friday night when they heard Stabler screaming. She then burst into their room bleeding from wounds to her head, torso and hands.
With his girlfriend's help, Wilcha wrestled Lindsay to the floor and forced the 2-foot-long machete from his grasp, keeping him pinned until police arrived. The girlfriend she read the Bible aloud while they waited for police Friday night.
"Jesus saved us," Wilcha said.
Wilcha said he suffered a broken foot and a stab wound during the scuffle. He was walking on crutches and a cast today. His girlfriend sustained cuts and bruises to her arms, police said. Both were treated at Sound Shore Medical Center, where Stabler was pronounced dead just after 1 a.m. Saturday.
Lindsay was being held without bail at Westchester County jail and is due back in city court this morning. He appeared in court Sunday morning wearing a hospital gown after he was treated for a hand injury sustained during the attack, police said.
Investigators fingerprinted him and took his clothes as evidence.
Detective Lt. Christopher Hearle said Lindsay and Stabler had an on-again-off-again relationship, adding that it appeared that Lindsay's attack was triggered by a minor slight against him. The machete was a longtime keepsake Lindsay had in his rental apartment, Hearle said.
"It was a gruesome scene," he added.
Lindsay had been arrested several times by New Rochelle police before the alleged murder.
State records show that Lindsay was released from Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining in 2004, after serving two years for second-degree assault and second-degree attempted robbery, both felonies. He was arrested in 2001 for his involvement in a string of armed robberies around New Rochelle, where he and two others targeted people late at night with a BB gun that looked like a pistol.
For Stabler, her violent death was the end of a difficult life.
She left behind a 5-year-old daughter, who was living permanently with a former boyfriend who was not the father. Her adoptive brother, James Stabler, said she wanted to build a stable career and home before trying to raise her child.
A girl of Mexican descent, Lisa Stabler was adopted at 16 months old by a white couple from Plattekill in Ulster County. James Stabler, also adopted by the couple, said his sister was mistreated by their adoptive mother.
Their adoptive father, Roger Stabler, was murdered by their mother's Internet suitor in front of their home in a bizarre shooting in 1998. The wife, Ruth Stabler, admitted to helping her suitor, Frank Dobson of Florida, dump the body in the Wallkill River and both were arrested. Lisa Stabler, then 16, was the one who first called 911 to alert police of the shooting.
Dobson is serving 18 years to life in Attica Correctional Facility. Ruth Stabler faced lesser charges in the incident and about 16 months, news reports stated.
Angry about his father's murder, James Stabler, then 21, was arrested several month later and confessed to a string of arson attacks, in which he started barn fires and torched his parents' home. He served 7 1/2 years in a New York state prison, moved to Phoenix, Ariz., and is now married with two boys.
"This is two tragic losses since 1998. It's horrible," James Stabler, 33, said today. "The girl's been through hell," he said of his sister's upbringing and struggles.
Both adoptive siblings had since reconnected with their biological mothers and, according to her Facebook page, Stabler had found two other sisters, as well.
James Stabler said neither he nor his sister had been in touch with their adoptive mother for over a decade. He said he was in regular contact with his sister, who he knew since she was an infant, and hoped to move her out to Arizona with him.
James Stabler said he and his sister rarely discussed her boyfriends. She wrote in her Facebook biography: "I'm happy for now ... in a beautiful relationship."
Wilcha, who kept his apartment door just barely open to speak to a reporter, said he was relieved to hear Lindsay was arraigned on a murder charge.
"Thank you, Lord," Wilcha said. "We want life in prison for him. He deserves this. He killed an innocent girl."
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