{"id":141423,"date":"2026-02-22T01:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T01:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141423\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T01:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T01:33:08","slug":"queens-man-who-strangled-landlady-over-unpaid-rent-gets-22-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141423\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens man who strangled landlady over unpaid rent gets 22 years in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Queens man who strangled his landlord to death in a clash over unpaid rent in 2023<\/a> was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the Queens district attorney announced.<\/p>\n

Davi Vidal, 21, was sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant on Friday for the strangulation death of his 55-year-old landlord, Zoraida Leo, whose lifeless body was found by police in her building near 96th St. near 32nd Ave.<\/a> in East Elmhurst on Dec. 5, 2023. Vidal will also have five years of post-release supervision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis defendant brutally attacked Zoraida Leo after a rent dispute and then callously left her to die on the floor of her own home,\u201d Queens DA Melinda Katz said. \u201cNo family should endure the loss of a loved one in such a cruel manner. We cannot undo this egregious harm, but with this sentence we have helped secure justice for Ms. Leo\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said that on Dec. 4 around 7:30 p.m., Leo and Vidal got into an argument over unpaid rent that turned physical, with Vidal strangling the victim with his hands and a cord from an iron.<\/p>\n

\"MurderSuspect Davi Vidal, 19, is pictured in police custody after being arrested in connection with the death of his landlady, Zoraida Leo, in December 2023. (Courtesy of Eva Rivera)<\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s son discovered her body the next day when he went to the home and found her near the bathroom entryway. She was sprawled out on the floor with scratches on her face. Police initially believed she was beaten to death, but an autopsy by the New York City medical examiner<\/a> later determined she died of strangulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a terrible scene,\u201d Leo\u2019s neighbor and friend Eva Rivera told the Daily News at the time of the incident. \u201cHe was screaming, \u2018My mom was killed!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Vidal who had lived in the building\u2019s attic apartment for around two years, was arrested the same day after her body was found after cops zeroed in on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was an incredibly nice lady,\u201d Rivera said of Leo. \u201cShe never had any trouble with anybody. It was a terrible tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of Vidal, she said, \u201cAfter killing her, he didn\u2019t even run away. He went back to his room on the second floor and hid like nothing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AQueens landlord Zoraida Leo was beaten to death in her home by an upstairs teen tenant during a quarrel over back on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023.(Anusha Bayya for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Vidal, who was 19 at the time of the slaying, would always say he didn\u2019t have work, Rivera said: \u201cAll he ever did was sit on the stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

When cops arrested Vidal, he admitted, while crying, to strangling Leo and pushing her down a flight of stairs, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she fell, I didn\u2019t help her because I was scared,\u201d Vidal allegedly told arresting officers. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to do, I\u2019m not a doctor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my fault that she died, because I pushed her,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Vidal plead guilty to manslaughter in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queens man who strangled his landlord to death in a clash over unpaid rent in 2023 was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,122,124,123,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-141423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-city","9":"tag-county","10":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-county","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nyc-crime","19":"tag-queens","20":"tag-queens-headlines","21":"tag-queens-news","22":"tag-sub-county-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}