Queens Village Man Charged With Murdering His Half Brother

criminal with knife and dead body at crime scene
Illustration from 123rf

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz yesterday announced that a 29-year-old Queens Village man has been charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes for the deadly stabbing of his half-brother.

Wkorasky Voltaire, 29, of 208th Street in the Queens Village was arraigned late Friday night before Queens Criminal Court Judge Mary Bejarano on a complaint charging him with murder in the second degree of his 22-year-old half-brother McKenzie Placide.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz

“This was an alleged act of fratricide, where a man grabbed a knife and violently stabbed his own half-brother to death. In an attempt to cover up the violence, the defendant is also accused of trying to conceal his guilt by hiding evidence,” said Katz.

According to the charges, just before 5 a.m., Thursday, May 14, Voltaire and Placide were allegedly arguing at an uninhabitable house where the two men previously lived with their now-deceased mother on 208th Street. 

Voltaire, who brought two kitchen knives with him from an aunt’s house, allegedly stabbed Placide with one of the knives while inside the residence. That first knife broke and Voltaire allegedly retrieved the second knife he brought with him, followed the injured victim outside and allegedly continued to stab his sibling multiple times in the chest and torso. 

The defendant left the broken knife inside the vacant house and is accused of disposing of the second knife, his sneakers and blood-covered clothes. The victim told officers his brother had stabbed him before he was taken to a nearby hospital where he died of the injuries.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Christopher D’Antonio of the New York City Police Department’s 105th Precinct and Detective Tony Faranda of the NYPD’S Queens South Homicide Squad.

Voltaire was remanded without bail. Judge Bejarano ordered him to return to court on June 15, 2020. If convicted, Voltaire faces up to 25 years to life in prison.