Syracuse, NY — A 23-year-old woman is accused of stuffing items down the throat of 93-year-old Connie Tuori and stabbing her to death inside the victim’s Skyline apartment, according to an indictment filed Thursday.
The indictment described the murder as “especially cruel and wanton.”
Tuori died of suffocation after multiple items were stuffed down her mouth and throat, according to the indictment. The repeated stabbings inflicted additional pain, the indictment adds.
Victoria Afet faces up to life in prison without parole in Tuori’s murder under an obscure section of the first-degree murder law that relates to torture. She faces a second first-degree murder count that accuses her of murdering the elderly woman while committing a burglary inside the victim’s 12th floor apartment.
It’s one of the only times in modern Syracuse history that someone has been charged with murder as a form of torture. Even the most heinous crimes typically do not fall under such laws.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard today that he can only recall a handful of murder cases with a torture element since the law went on the books in 1996. He did not immediately have the details of those prior crimes.
“It’s extremely rare,” Fitzpatrick said.
Afet’s nine-count indictment also includes two counts of second-degree murder for Tuori’s death, three counts of burglary and one count each of illegal weapon possession and concealing a human corpse, all felonies.
The point in charging four counts of murder is to offer multiple legal theories to prosecute Afet: Under the torture theory, an intentional murder theory and a death in furtherance of a burglary.
The indictment confirms that authorities believe that Afet killed Tuori on Feb. 26. It does not say what items were stuffed down her air passages. The victim was stabbed with a knife, the indictment alleges.
Fitzpatrick has said that security video showed Afet following Tuori into her apartment around 3:30 p.m. Feb. 26. She was seen on security camera leaving the apartment roughly two hours later, the DA has said.
Fitzpatrick said that Afet apparently wanted to cause mischief inside the woman’s apartment, though the nature of anything stolen was not described in the indictment.
After the murder, Afet is accused of dragging Tuori’s body into a bedroom and hiding it there. That led to the concealment of a corpse charge.
Tuori’s body remained in her apartment for weeks. Police were called to check on her welfare 19 days after the alleged date of the murder.
Afet remains jailed with no bail on prior crimes and $6 million bail in Tuori’s murder.
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Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.