The 2025 NYC Homicide Victim List is available here.

NYPD responded to Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, located at 80-45 Winchester Blvd. on January 20, at approximately 10:36 a.m., after 63-year-old Ronald Giacopelli was discovered lying face down in a pool of blood inside 23-year-old David Zheng’s room. Police said he had been stabbed in the neck and back.

Emergency medical services arrived shortly after and pronounced him dead at the scene. Authorities reported that a kitchen knife was found nearby.

According to the Daily News, the city’s medical examiner later confirmed that strangulation was the cause of death.

Zheng was arrested and brought in for questioning, but according to reports, he has no memory of the events from the previous night.

As a result of the investigation, Zheng was formally charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and criminal possession of a weapon, as outlined in a criminal complaint. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.