An unhinged Queens man who viciously butchered his own mother to death used a machete during the bloody domestic attack, shoving the blade down her throat and into her liver, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The horrifying details were revealed as Amel Crawford, 26, was arraigned on murder charges in the gruesome Tuesday morning slashing death of 61-year-old Joanne Crawford in their Far Rockaway home, according to police and prosecutors.
“The victim sustained 11 stab wounds,” Queens Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Ruzza said in court. “A stab wound to the abdomen went through the liver and through the entire body. A knife was shoved down her throat which split her tongue in half and perforated the trachea.”
Police made the grisly discovery around 10:40 a.m. Tuesday — and later arrested Amel Crawford, but only after he ran onto the beach and into the water, a police source told The Post.
Ruzzo said the accused killer then tried to make a run for it — by running into the Rockaway surf.
“The defendant was taken into custody at Beach 62nd Street and Rockaway Boardwalk, where he had run into the water presumably to evade capture,” she said.
According to one police source, the mad dash “looked like he was trying to kill himself.”
He was arraigned Wednesday on charges of second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and ordered held without bail by Judge Sharifa Milena Nasser-Cuellar.
Joanne, a retired city corrections officer, was found inside the home around 10:40 a.m. Tuesday and pronounced dead at the scene.
The mother and son had a tumultuous relationship, with police responding to domestic disturbance complaints at the home, including two earlier this year — yet neither turned violent, sources said.
Amel Crawford, who has no criminal record, had a strained relationship with his mom because of her past career as a city corrections officer, which one relative said left her little time for mothering.
“He never was a troubled kid outside; he just had problems with her,” the accused killer’s cousin, Barry Crawford, told The Post. “I think his biggest problem with her is that she worked for corrections, she was a retired corrections officer, so she was never home.
“He felt that she never gave him the quality time that he desired,” he said.
The fatal stabbing shocked neighbors, some of whom said they had seen Amel Crawford grow up.
“We are all pretty shaken up,” one local who asked not to be identified told The Post. “This is extremely shocking. We’re all just trying to process what happened. There are so many stories going around but we don’t know what to believe.”
Another neighbor called the family “nice people” who were already living on the block when he moved in 30 years ago.
“I watched him grow up from a little boy,” a woman who knew the family said. “We are all in shock. My whole family, we’re in shock. I still can’t believe this is real.”
Barry Crawford said he started “pouring tears” after learning about Joanne’s death and remembered her as a giving fixture of the community who was always there for her loved ones.
“Her father and my mother are brothers and sisters. We’ve been close since we were little kids. I’ll love her and miss her forever. I’ll never understand this tragedy or what has happened,” he said.
“This tragedy will never be understood by this family because of who she is. She did everything for everyone who came in contact with her. Anyone who knew Joanne Crawford knew she was a loving person.”
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