{"id":347984,"date":"2026-09-16T03:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T03:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/347984\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T03:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T03:10:10","slug":"son-of-murdered-brooklyn-woman-tracks-down-suspect-his-own-stepdad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/347984\/","title":{"rendered":"Son of murdered Brooklyn woman tracks down suspect – his own stepdad"},"content":{"rendered":"

The son of a Brooklyn woman found dead in her apartment<\/a> tracked down her husband and blocked traffic to prevent him from getting away, allowing police to take the man into custody and later charge him with murdering the beloved pre-K teacher, law enforcement sources and the victim\u2019s family said.<\/p>\n

Maria Ines Granda\u2019s lifeless body was discovered with head trauma inside her apartment on 79th St. in Bay Ridge around 9:30 a.m. Monday, cops said\u00a0 Her husband, 47-year-old Mauricio Granda, was arrested in Sunset Park later that day, police sources said.<\/p>\n

He was charged late Tuesday with murder in his wife\u2019s death, cops said.<\/p>\n

The grisly discovery was made after the victim\u2019s son requested a wellness check when his mother, 59, didn\u2019t show up for her job as a pre-kindergarten teacher Monday, he told the Daily News in an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a teacher, so she\u2019s well loved by the community,\u201d the victim\u2019s son, Fortino Vasquez, said. \u201cThe students were already asking for her Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vasquez, who keeps in daily contact with his mother, said he grew concerned after not hearing from her over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201dI was supposed to go see her Sunday, and that\u2019s why it was strange when she wasn\u2019t answering my calls and messages, but I just figured maybe she was tired or she was busy,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cOn Monday morning I sent her a \u2018good morning\u2019 message and was hoping to hear back from her, and told her to call me when she has a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

When her school called and said she had not shown up for work, Vasquez immediately contacted police requesting a wellness check, he said.<\/p>\n

Detectives reached out to him later that day asking if he could meet them at his mother\u2019s apartment, where he was informed of her\u00a0 fate. Vasquez said he then told investigators to look for his stepfather, who had likewise fallen out of contact that morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen [the school] contacted him, it would just go straight to voicemail. So that\u2019s the only reason why I suspected him,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t for anything in the past related.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suspect\u2019s whereabouts remained a mystery until the victim\u2019s son drove to his stepfather\u2019s former apartment in Sunset Park on a hunch Monday, Vasquez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething told me to head there,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cWhen I approached 52nd Street, that\u2019s when I I recognize my mom\u2019s car and, as I get closer, I see that he\u2019s inside,\u201d Vasquez said.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s son called the detectives before slowly pulling up beside his mother\u2019s blue electric car, which was parked on the street. As he was on the phone with detectives, a patrol unit pulled up and told him to move, Vasquez said<\/p>\n

\u201cI was blocking traffic, and cars were honking. But I wanted to stay put,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cOnce the detectives got there, they told me to move more forward, like to block him so he couldn\u2019t escape. And that\u2019s when I came side-by-side with him, and I just blocked him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vasquez said his stepfather didn\u2019t appear happy to see him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis windows were rolled up. I didn\u2019t say anything to him. I just looked at him. We made eye contact,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cHe\u2019s always very friendly with me. But this time it just, I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s just something very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victim, whose maiden name is Maria Ines Sanchez, earned her U.S. citizenship after emigrating from Mexico, where most of her family lives, her son said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very, very full of life,\u201d said Vasquez. \u201cAnd anybody has ever met her, they know she\u2019s very nice, caring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria studied at Touro College after earning her GED, before going on to work as a teacher in NYC Schools Head Start program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been years since she\u2019s in there, so I know there\u2019s a lot of students that are already well grown,\u201d her son said.<\/p>\n

The victim and her husband married about 10 years ago, according to Vasquez, who said he wasn\u2019t aware of any history of violence in their relationship.<\/p>\n

A worker at the victim\u2019s building said he never would have suspected here husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were a loving couple,\u201d said the worker. \u201cI would never guess he would do such a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Mauricio was spotted leaving the apartment with the couple\u2019s dog, a golden doodle named Canelo, the pooch wasn\u2019t with the suspect when he was captured and the victim\u2019s son is desperate to find him.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe treated him like her child, and she\u2019s very caring with the dog,\u201d said Vasquez. \u201cShe loves him very much. She\u2019s very attached to the dog.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The son of a Brooklyn woman found dead in her apartment tracked down her husband and blocked traffic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":["post-347984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347984","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=347984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}