A renter charged with strangling his Queens landlady last year is a migrant from Colombia who was allowed into the US as an unaccompanied minor, sources said — as the victim’s outraged sister claimed authorities kept it quiet until it was too late.
Davi Vidal, 20, crossed the border illegally in San Luis, Arizona, in June 2022 when he was 17, and was allowed to remain in the country as an unescorted minor — standard practice for lone underage migrants who are freed into the country for “humanitarian reasons,” federal law enforcement sources said.
Sources said Vidal’s “US sponsor” was an aunt in Wisconsin. He was cut loose with a date for an immigration court hearing, though it was unclear when that hearing was scheduled for, according to the sources and records.
But on Dec. 7, 2023, Vidal was still free when he allegedly got into a rent dispute with his landlord, Zoraida Leo, 55, and attacked her, leaving her to die inside her building on 96th Street near Northern Boulevard in East Elmhurst, police said.
Only then did US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) place a detainer on the migrant.
“He’s a migrant who crossed the border illegally,” Maria Leo, the victim’s sister and a naturalized citizen from the Dominican Republic, told The Post. “How is it that the federal government let this delinquent go, only for him to kill an innocent woman — my sister. Vidal is an assassin.
But more than a year later, on Dec. 4, 2023, Vidal was still free when he allegedly got into a dispute over unpaid rent with his landlady, Zoraida Leo, 55, and strangled her, leaving her dead inside her building on 96th Street near Northern Boulevard in East Elmhurst, police said.
According to prosecutors, Leo’s worried son found her body when he went to check on her the next day — with Vidal, weeping and scratched, still at the scene when cops got there.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a detainer on Vidal on Dec. 7, 2023, after his arrest. He was indicted on a charge of murder in the second degree later that month.
“He’s a migrant who crossed the border illegally,” Maria Leo, the victim’s sister and a naturalized citizen from the Dominican Republic, told The Post.
“How is it that the federal government let this delinquent go, only for him to kill an innocent woman — my sister? Vidal is an assassin,” she said.
Maria Leo even provided The Post a copy of the defendant’s Colombian passport.
Meanwhile, the city Department of Correction, which declined to comment, lists an “INS warrant” for Vidal from immigration authorities.
New York City has a sanctuary law that limits local authorities from honoring ICE deportation orders except under specific circumstances.
Vidal’s attorney did not return a call seeking comment.
The migrant is being held at Rikers Island without bail on murder charges.
The revelation of Vidal’s status comes amid other recent crimes allegedly committed by migrants in the country illegally — including a rape of a 5-year-old girl by a Honduran national on Long Island, and a Chilean national who shot his girlfriend and her two sons, killing one of the boys, in the town of Somers in Westchester County.
“I want justice for my sister! I have no idea what’s going on with the case. I am sad and mad,” Maria Leo said. “I want the border to be secure. So many people coming here are engaged in criminal activity and killing people.”
Zoraida, who owned a two-story home in East Elmhurst, left behind four kids and seven brothers and sisters.
Maria Leo maintained that Vidal’s immigration status was never mentioned when Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the murder indictment against him on Dec. 13, 2023.
However, the aunt’s husband flipped out after the migrant was found smoking pot and he was booted from the home, Maria Leo claimed. That’s when he rented the attic unit in Queens, with his aunt vowing to pay the rent, she added.
But the aunt reneged on the arrangement, leaving Vidal living rent-free and spending his days lounging around smoking weed — until Zoraida Leo had enough and told him he was getting kicked out, her grieving sister said.
Hiram Monserrate, a Democratic district leader in East Elmhurst and former councilman and state senator, went to the victim’s wake to pay his respects after the family reached out to him.
“They’re looking for answers,” Monserrate said. “This was a heinous crime that happened in our community.”
Zoraida Leo was active in her local church, was a member of a local women’s rights group and looked after her ailing 85-year-old mother, Adelaida Guzman.
“There are a lot of people in the community who knew and loved her,” Monserrate said. “There’s no doubt we need better border security. Zoraida lent the guy a helping hand and he killed her.”
A spokesperson for Katz told The Post, “The defendant was indicted and remanded. The case is proceeding at a normal pace.”
The DA’s Office declined to comment about what it knew about Vidal’s immigration status.
ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Jon Feere, who served as a senior adviser to the ICE director under President Donald Trump, said it is not surprising that victims’ families are left in the dark about crimes committed by migrants.
Feere, who served with the agency from 2017 to 2020, said he helped create a victims advocacy office within ICE but it was dismantled after President Biden took office.
“We saw the same scenario with other victims. It’s more clear evidence that sanctuary jurisdictions are clear magnets for illegal immigration. It leads to a lot of lawlessness and from that we get victimization,” said Feere, who is now director of investigations for the Center for Immigration Studies.
Feere said the DA’s Office may or may not have known about Vidal’s immigration status.
“It’s not on their radar if they’re not interested in uncovering this information,” he said.
