Police: Attacker took revenge in fatal gas-station stabbing

November 14, 2009
By ANDREW STRICKLER

An Albertson man fatally stabbed a gas station attendant in Roslyn Heights last month after the victim's report to police triggered the arrest and deportation of the accused man's girlfriend, Nassau police said Saturday.

Homicide detectives arrested Wilmer Linares, 23, Friday night and charged him with second-degree murder in the brutal stabbing of Jony Acosta, 26, also of Albertson, as he worked Halloween night at a Gulf station.

Police said Acosta previously had been in a relationship with a woman with whom he has a 4-year-old daughter. During the summer, he reported a break-in at his Albertson home and some property damage. The woman, whom police did not identify, was subsequently charged with burglary and criminal mischief.

Later, the woman was in a relationship with Linares, police said, although it was unclear when that relationship began.

Because she was not a legal resident, federal immigration officials were alerted and she was deported to Honduras, Det. Lt. John Azzata said.

"Mr. Linares is believed to have taken out revenge on behalf of this woman," he said.

A surveillance camera at the gas station caught what Azzata described as "a very short struggle." Only the attacker and Acosta were in the store at Willis Avenue and Power House Road when Acosta was stabbed Oct. 31.

Acosta survived the multiple stab wounds but was too injured to be interviewed by police. He underwent surgery but died Nov. 3 at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.

Linares works as a cabinetmaker, police said.
He was to be arraigned Saturday in First District Court in Hempstead.

By By ANDREW STRICKLER
Posted Saturday, November 14, 2009

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