Alleged sex killer Raad Amansoori boasted to police about the enormous effort involved in the murder of a New York prostitute who “just didn’t want to die”, a court heard today.
The 26-year-old made his first appearance at a detention hearing in Arizona since he was pulled from a stolen vehicle and arrested at gunpoint in a Phoenix car garage on February 18.
Details of three more sexual assaults have emerged since mother-of-two Denisse Oleas-Arancibia was found beaten to death at New York’s SoHo 54 hotel on February 8.
Arizona State Police Detective Jeremy Goebel said Amansoori went into “graphic detail” about how he began choking her after an argument broke out over how long he could stay.
“In his words, ‘She just didn’t want to die,’” the court heard.
Raad Amansoori, 26, appeared in an Arizona courthouse on Monday charged with the Feb. 8 murder of Ecuadorian-born sex worker Denisse Oleas-Arancibia in New York.
Pieces of plastic were found in the mother-of-two’s head and a bloodied iron was next to her when her body was discovered
Arizona State Police Detective Jeremy Goebel said Amansoori went into “graphic detail” about how he began choking her after an argument broke out over how long he could stay
When the strangling didn’t work, Amansoori turned her head from side to side in an attempt to break her neck, before hitting her with an iron.
According to Goebel, she was already dying from her injuries when he tried to suffocate her with a sock and blanket.
“No woman on this planet likes me, so I was very upset,” he told the officer.
Amansoori’s fate has become a political football after Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said she would not return him to New York for trial.
“After seeing the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan District Attorney there, Alvin Bragg, I think it is safer to keep him here and keep him in custody so he can do this too.” cannot do to individuals in our state. county or anywhere in the United States,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Bragg said it is “deeply disturbing” that Mitchell is “playing political games in a murder investigation.”
“New York’s homicide rate is less than half that of Phoenix, Arizona, thanks to the hard work of the NYPD and all of our law enforcement partners.
“It is a slap in the face to them and to the victim in our case to refuse to allow us to seek justice and full accountability for the death of a New Yorker.”
Denisse Oleas-Arancibia is seen with family members in a Facebook photo posted by her son
Surveillance footage of Almansoori caught after Oleas-Arancibia’s murder wearing her leggings on a well-lit Manhattan street
Oleas-Arancibia’s body was found on February 8 in a room at the SoHo 54 hotel in New York.
Leah Palian, 26, has revealed that Almansoori held her captive in her home in Orlando, Florida before choking and sexually assaulting her in April last year
Arizona police say Almansoori carjacked and stabbed a woman in Phoenix on Feb. 17 before kidnapping and stabbing a McDonald’s employee in nearby Surprise, Arizona, the next day.
Goebel told the court that Almansoori allegedly followed the 18-year-old victim into the McDonald’s bathroom, crawled under the door to her stall before pepper-spraying her and stabbing her in the neck as she screamed.
She later described him as having “evil eyes.”
The officer said Almansoori had also discussed a plan to kill his father and stepmother and burn down their house.
Last week, the NYPD revealed at a press conference that Almansoori was out on bail at the time of the murder for attacking and sexually assaulting another woman in Florida in April 2023.
Leah Palian, 26, says Almansoori, 26, held her captive in her Orlando, Florida, home before choking her and sexually assaulting her.
‘I hate that I have to do this. I hate that I have to kill you,” Almansoori reportedly told Palian during the terrifying ordeal.
Alamsoori was arrested but released on $2,500 bail in September last year.
“Despite my chilling warning to the Florida State Attorney that his actions were indicative of a potential serial killer, they callously released him and dropped all but one charge (car theft),” Palian wrote on Facebook.
“The blood of an innocent mother stains their hands. Florida’s justice system not only failed me, but turned a blind eye to the imminent danger he posed to countless other women.”
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Almansoori has an “extensive” history of state arrests, having previously been arrested in Florida, Texas and Arizona.
Surveillance footage of Almansoori on the night of Oleas-Arancibia’s murder showed him wearing her leggings on a well-lit Manhattan street after allegedly leaving his own blood-soaked pants at the scene.
Kenny said Almansoori bought a plane ticket from Florida to New York on January 26.
According to Kenny, he used his credit card three days later in the Big Apple and visited an escort in Upper Manhattan on February 6.
Oleas-Arancibia’s body was found on the morning of February 8, and four days later Almansoori was said to have flown back to Arizona from Newark.
Almansoori was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and robbery.
He was also charged with theft, assault, theft and criminal damage in the separate Phoenix investigation.
The murdered woman’s son, Edwin Cevallos, said she ‘always worked for us to give us the best life in this country’
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (pictured) told reporters she has ordered her staff not to cooperate with plans to return Almansoori, 26, to New York, where he is wanted for the alleged murder of Oleas-Arancibia, 38
Mitchell said she didn’t trust Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (pictured) to go after “violent criminals,” citing his history as a reason for refusing extradition
Kenny added that the extradition could take “days, weeks, months.”
After the alleged crime, John Kelly, a criminal profiler, told Fox News that he displayed disturbing traits as a “budding serial killer.”
“It looks like he was on his way, getting to work, so it’s a good thing they got him,” he said, noting the 26-year-old’s alleged focus on women and “dissociation.”
Maricopa Commissioner Lindsey Coates ruled that Almansoori will remain behind bars without bail due to the danger he poses to the public, but insisted she will not intervene in the two over extradition.
“I make no ruling on bail and his eligibility, therefore, based on any information regarding a separate proceeding in New York City, it is a completely separate proceeding,” she explained.
‘I will only make a decision on this matter today. So that’s my decision on this matter.’