The death of an 18-year-old Queens woman, apparently killed at the hands of her boyfriend in a gruesome murder-suicide, has left the victim’s family in the Dominican Republic shattered, according to a local news outlet. “This has been a massive shock for the family,” victim Keyriana Jimenez Rodriguez’s father, Kelvin Adrián Jiménez, told Info El Nuevo Norte in Spanish. The girl’s grandmother, Adriana de la Cruz, said in Spanish that she “absolutely adored” Rodriguez, whom she remembered as “more than a granddaughter, like a daughter.”
‘I don’t have the strength to say much. I was crazy about that girl and she was crazy about me,’ she continued.
Rodriguez was reportedly living in the United States with her mother. Neighbors said they thought the boyfriend had been living with his father and two brothers, but were unsure whether the couple lived together.
An online fundraiser was created Wednesday to benefit Rodriguez’s family and pay her funeral expenses. “Keyriana will be remembered for her light, her spirit, and the love she left behind in every person who had the privilege of knowing her,” the GoFundMe post read.
Rodriguez and her 20-year-old boyfriend were found dead in an 84th St. apartment near 34th Ave. in Jackson Heights around 1:50 a.m. Wednesday, cops said.
In the moments before they were killed, witnesses overheard arguing, followed by several shots being fired, according to a law enforcement source.
“They were always fighting. It was terrible,” said a 63-year-old neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld. “They would shout awful things at one another. Everyone could hear. It was continual.”
The boyfriend’s 19-year-old brother, who was in another room at their sixth-floor apartment, and a neighbor called 911 after hearing the shots.
Police believe the man shot his girlfriend, then turned the gun on himself. The man’s name was not immediately released.
“He had serious problems with his girlfriend. He couldn’t contain his emotions,” said a 65-year-old neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. “I couldn’t believe it because he said he was happy he had just found a job.”
“I only met his girlfriend once or twice,” he added. “She seemed nice.”
The city medical examiner will conduct autopsies on Rodriguez and her boyfriend to determine their cause of death.
The murder weapon along with bullets were recovered by cops from the scene.
-by Kerry Burke, Colin Mixson, Emma Seiwell
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