Man wanted in New York slaying stabbed 2 women in Arizona, police say

Police in New York City are warning departments across the country to check for any victims of a man suspected in a killing in that city, as well as the stabbing of two women in Arizona, this month.

Raad Noan Almansoori, 26, is a suspect in the killing of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, 38, who was found dead next to a broken iron in her room at the SoHo 54 Hotel in Manhattan on Feb. 8, New York police Chief of Detectives Joe Kenney said.

Almansoori was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, for allegedly driving a stolen vehicle. He is accused of stabbing two women in that state: a woman who was carjacked and stabbed in Phoenix and a McDonald’s worker stabbed the next day in Surprise, police said.

Kenney said that after being arrested in Arizona, Almansoori told police there that he was wanted in a New York City killing.

“While in the custody of Arizona law enforcement, he informs them that he is wanted for a homicide in New York City, and tells the cops that they should Google ‘SoHo 54 Hotel,’” Kenney said at a Tuesday news conference.

Almansoori also “told Arizona cops that he hurt three additional girls in Florida,” Kenney said.

In two of the incidents that police know about, the victims were escorts, Kenney said.

On Feb. 6, two days before Oleas-Arancibia was found dead at the hotel, Almansoori had visited an escort in Manhattan, Kenney said. Police have contacted that woman.

Almansoori had been arrested in April of 2023 in Florida on a charge of kidnapping and sexual assault, and he was free after posting bail in September, Kenney said.

“The other victims in Arizona, like I said, one is a female working at the McDonald’s and one is a female just simply driving in her car that was attacked by this male,” he noted.

Chief NYPD spokesman Tarik Sheppard said that police wanted to inform communities to report any sighting or contact they’ve had with Almansoori.

“Anywhere that he’s visited, there is potential that there are other victims around the country, and we want to do our due diligence and make sure that we let communities around the country know that they should be aware of who this person is,” Sheppard said.

In the Manhattan hotel homicide case, police were called to Room 1109 of the SoHo Hotel on Feb. 8 at around 10:30 a.m. and found Oleas-Arancibia dead, police said. A broken iron was next to her. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death as blunt-force trauma to the head, Kenney said.

“In our homicide, it seems there was a dispute over the time he was allowed to stay in the room, and that’s what caused the outburst, which caused the attack,” Kenney said.

In Arizona on Saturday, Almansoori carjacked and stabbed a woman in Phoenix, and on Sunday in the nearby city of Surprise he dragged a McDonald’s employee into a women’s restroom at the restaurant and stabbed her several times, Kenney said.

Both of those victims survived.

Police in Surprise said that Almansoori is being held without bond.

Surprise police said that he is charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and theft of means for acts in that city, as well as with robbery, assault, theft and criminal damage for crimes committed in Phoenix.

Online court records in Maricopa County, Arizona, did not appear to show criminal cases related to the allegations in Phoenix and Surprise as of Tuesday night.

An attorney listed as representing Almansoori in past Arizona cases did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it was not clear if Almansoori had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The NYPD is also reaching out to the FBI and its “violent criminal apprehension program,” which has a large database of violent crimes, to see if there may be other victims across the country, Kenney said.

Kenney said that police believe Almansoori has or had residences in Florida, Texas and Arizona, and that he has family in Arizona.

Police believe Almansoori flew from Florida to New York City sometime between Jan. 26 and Jan. 29 and then flew from Newark to Arizona on Feb. 12, Kenney said.

New York officials will seek to have Almansoori extradited to New York, and prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office are in contact with officials in Arizona in the homicide case, Kenney said.

New York police said that Almansoori had no prior history of arrests in New York, but had an “extensive” record of arrests outside of the state. The majority of his arrests involve domestic violence and assault, Kenney said.

In the April 2023 arrest in Florida, “it seems that one involved more alcohol, that he was drinking with the escort and then wouldn’t let her leave, so that’s where the kidnapping came in,” he said.

“But as far as the pattern goes, that’s why we’re reaching out to the FBI for their assistance,” he said.