Teen says suspect confessed after fatal Bergen Beach stabbing

A police car drives through Brooklyn, Dec. 16, 2022. AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File

BERGEN BEACH — An 18-year-old Brooklyn woman told police she learned her father had been stabbed to death when her sister’s estranged husband, Albert Torres, 35, called her to confess to the crime, after a bloody attack inside the family’s Bergen Beach home, the Daily News reported.

Juan Manuel Galicia, 49, was stabbed 19 times and later died at Brookdale University Hospital; his wife, also 49, was stabbed more than 40 times and remains hospitalized but is recovering. Torres’ wife and their young child, who had recently moved in with her parents after a fight, were not home at the time of the attack.

Torres allegedly called multiple family members Thursday, calmly admitting to the attack before fleeing in a blue Toyota SUV, according to the victim’s daughter and court filings. First responders found the couple inside the home on E. 69th Street around 7:30 p.m. Neighbors reported hearing a single scream before silence.

Torres was arrested the next day and ordered held without bail on murder and attempted murder charges. Sentencing proceedings are pending.

“He was calling from his number. He was very calm. He’s a psychopath. I don’t know how a person has the heart to do something like this. […] He said, ‘Your father is dead. I killed your father. I thought I was doing you a favor,’” the daughter told the Daily News.

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