Filing: Man Said 'I Stabbed Her' In NY Salon Death
NEW YORK (AP) -- Their marriage had been troubled, punctuated by allegations of assault and a restraining order. And on its last day, Michael Kenny went with his hairstylist wife to the salon where she worked, got a haircut and a shave from her and then stabbed her to death in a bathroom there, prosecutors say.
"Is my wife OK? Do you know I stabbed her? Seven times," Kenny said the next day during an ugly rant to police who arrested him near Millersville, Md., according to a court document filed Thursday as he pleaded not guilty to murder in Denise Kenny's March 10 death.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement that the case "sadly underscores how quickly the relationship between abuser and victim can turn deadly."
Michael Kenny's lawyer, Kevin M. Canfield, had no immediate comment.
Denise Kenny, originally from Trinidad, met Michael Kenny about three years ago, her son told the New York Daily News earlier this month.
Michael Kenny, 42, had a history of using drugs and a record of attempted robbery and robbery convictions dating to 1990, prosecutors said. The parolee's criminal record grew during the marriage, after he was arrested on charges of choking and assaulting his wife in January 2010 and then convicted of violating a restraining order by sending her threatening text messages, prosecutors said.
Imprisoned for two months, he was released in September, according to prosecutors and state prison records. He had a place at a halfway house but also spent time with Denise Kenny, prosecutors said.
She was attacked in midafternoon at D'Galina's Salon in midtown Manhattan, a broken 9-inch-long knife by her body in the bloodied bathroom, prosecutors said.
Her husband then stole about $800 in cash from the salon's cash register, fled to Brooklyn and stole his employer's van, prosecutors said.
He was arrested in Maryland after leading Anne Arundel County police on a 5-mile chase. The police said they used tire-deflating sticks and a beanbag-firing shotgun to stop him.
"I'd rather be shot with the real thing," Kenny later told officers, according to Thursday's filing detailing a tirade peppered with profanities, slurs and mentions of his drug use and rap sheet.
"I want you to get it word for word," he added, according to the document.
Kenny is being held without bail. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
