Son Kills Mother with Machete, Attempts Drowning Escape

In a gruesome incident, 26-year-old Armel Crawford allegedly slaughtered his mother, 61-year-old Joanne Crawford, with a machete in their Far Rockaway home. According to Queens Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Ruzza, the victim suffered 11 stab wounds, including a fatal blow to the abdomen that pierced her liver and another to the throat that split her tongue and perforated her trachea. The incident occurred on Tuesday, July 7, and police made the disturbing discovery around 10:40 a.m. Armel Crawford was later arrested after he attempted to flee by running into the ocean. As Ruzza noted in court, 'The defendant was taken into custody at Beach 62nd Street and Rockaway Boardwalk, where he had run into the water presumably to evade capture.' Armel Crawford was arraigned on Wednesday, July 8, on charges of second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and was ordered to be held without bail by Judge Sharifa Milena Nasser-Cuellar. The mother and son had a strained relationship, with police responding to domestic disturbance complaints at the home, including two earlier this year. A relative revealed that Armel Crawford's issues with his mother stemmed from her career as a city corrections officer, which left her little time for mothering. 'He never was a troubled kid outside; he just had problems with her,' said Barry Crawford, the accused killer's cousin. 'I think his biggest problem with her is that she worked for corrections, she was a retired corrections officer, so she was never home.' The fatal stabbing has left neighbors in shock, with one describing the family as 'nice people' who had lived on the block for over 30 years. 'We are all pretty shaken up,' a local resident said. 'This is extremely shocking. We're all just trying to process what happened.'