A Queens man suspected of stabbing his girlfriend to death before leaping from the roof of their seven-story building died in the hospital, cops said Friday.
Austin Wescott, 32, died at Mt. Sinai South Nassau on Oct. 3, police said. In addition to injuries from the fall, he had self-inflicted slash wounds on his wrists, ankles and torso, according to a police source.
He was the sole suspect in the death of his girlfriend, Pheona Premraj, 31, police said.
Wescott was covered in blood, standing on the roof of his Neilson St. apartment building near Dinsmore Ave. in Far Rockaway when police arrived around 11:50 a.m. on Sept. 30, cops said.
The officers attempted to talk him down, but he jumped, plunging seven stories.
Julian Roberts-Grmela / New York Daily News
Police investigate the day after Pheona Premraj was fatally stabbed inside this apartment building on Neilson St. near Dinsmore Ave. in Far Rockaway, Queens, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (Julian Roberts-Grmela / New York Daily News)
Inside his apartment, cops found Premraj’s lifeless body. She had been stabbed in the face, neck, chest and abdomen. The knife used to kill her was found next to her.
Medics rushed Wescott to Mt. Sinai South Nassau in critical condition. Police never had an opportunity to question him due to his condition, and he was never charged in Premraj’s death.
A law enforcement source said the stabbing took place during a domestic assault. The couple shared the apartment.
A 64-year-old neighbor said the couple could often be heard arguing inside their apartment.
“When they first moved in, they were good. But then three years ago, that’s when the fighting started,” said the neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld. “He asked her to leave almost three years ago. I heard him say, ‘You need to go,’ and she says, ‘No, I’m not going nowhere.’”
Cops confirmed that within the last three years they had been called by neighbors as many as six times to quell “family disputes” between the couple. No arrests were made during any of those visits to their home.
“The real bad part of the fighting started about a year ago,” the neighbor added. “The day of the incident, I didn’t hear anything.”
She described the victim’s boyfriend as “polite,” saying he “used to hold the elevator door open.”