A Massapequa woman has been indicted on a murder charge in the fatal stabbing of a 28-year-old man who was allegedly attacked while sleeping in his basement bedroom, Nassau County prosecutors announced.
Kristin Sculley, 22, was arraigned Wednesday on a grand jury indictment charging her with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Robert Carragher III.
According to the indictment, Sculley arrived at Carragher’s home on Beaumont Avenue in Massapequa on the evening of May 31 and spent several hours there. Prosecutors said the two had known each other for several years and were watching television in the victim’s basement bedroom.
Authorities allege that sometime during the early morning hours of June 1, Sculley left the bedroom, retrieved a knife from her purse in an adjacent room, then returned and stabbed Carragher in the neck while he was asleep.
Prosecutors said Carragher woke up after the attack and ran upstairs to his parents’ room, yelling that he had been stabbed.
When Nassau County police officers arrived, they found Carragher on the kitchen floor suffering from a stab wound to the neck. He was pronounced dead.
Investigators said they found Sculley hiding in a basement laundry room near the victim’s bedroom. Police also recovered a knife from the laundry room and observed blood on her clothing.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said the victim had welcomed the defendant into his home before the alleged attack.
“In the middle of the night, while Robert Carragher III lay asleep in his own bed, the defendant allegedly plunged a switchblade into his neck,” Donnelly said. “No family should ever have to endure the nightmare that the victim’s parents experienced as their son died in their arms.”
Sculley pleaded not guilty and was remanded into custody. She is scheduled to return to court on July 24.
If convicted of second-degree murder, she faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
The charges are accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
