The suspect accused of stabbing an autistic Bronx man to death after a possible mixup over a backpack was arrested and charged with murder this week, authorities said.
Gregory Hightower, 31, was nabbed Wednesday afternoon – five days after he allegedly chased Tyrone Padilla into the lobby of his Fordham Heights building and stabbed him in the neck and armpit, cops said.
Investigators speculated that Padilla, who family members say suffered from autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder, might have inadvertently picked up the suspect’s backpack, sparking the deadly Friday morning attack.
“It possibly could be that he picked up this person’s backpack by accident, which resulted in a confrontation,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters earlier this week.
The action would fit a pattern of behavior for Padilla, Kenny said.
“From speaking to people in the building and relatives, as part of our victim’s autistic tendencies, he has a habit of picking things up off the ground,” Kenny said.
“At one point we have him on video carrying a chair. He’s known to just pick up trash outside of the building.”
Padilla initially left his apartment on Creston Avenue near East Fordham Road at 1:10 a.m. and returned home unharmed 10 minutes later, police said.
Padilla then left his apartment a second time at 1:21 a.m. to walk his dog — but never returned from that outing.
According to video footage obtained by police, Padilla was seen being chased northbound on Creston Avenue by another man at about 1:24 a.m.
Another video had previously shown the same person holding a backpack. But the footage of the chase no longer shows the man carrying the bag.
Padilla was discovered bleeding to death in the stairwell of his Bronx residence around 1:30 a.m., cops said.
He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died just before 2 a.m.
Investigators recovered a dagger at the scene, but think it was Padilla’s and not the murder weapon. No backpack was recovered at the scene.
It was unclear Thursday morning how cops managed to track Hightower down – but Kenny previously said investigators have put video images of the suspect through facial recognition technology.
Hightower, of Bath Beach, Brooklyn, does not appear to have any prior arrests, cops said.
His arraignment was pending Thursday.
