Police have identified Misael Cruz as the suspect sought in the murder of Maria Santos Flores for the June 20 homicide.
The 68th Precinct Detective Squad seeks to identify and apprehend a man named Misael Cruz, 43, who police describe as a white Hispanic, five feet and eight inches tall, and 180 pounds.
Maria Santos Flores, 36, was discovered dead with her throat slashed in the lobby of her Bay Ridge apartment building by her teenage son on Saturday morning around 9 a.m.
Police said more than a month passed before the suspect was publicly identified.
Santos Flores was returning home to a building on 85th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues when she was attacked by an unknown assailant.
Her 17-year-old son and her sister, Angelica Flores, made the discovery. “I came to visit her and found her like this,” Angelica told The Post.
Family members said Flores had just come home from work.
Another sister, Daisy Flores, said the family is from El Salvador. “She liked to help people and she took care of her family,” Daisy said while crying.
“We don’t understand what happened,” she added.
Flores was a bartender at Huatulco Sports Bar, 369 36th St.
Her husband Antonio Hernandez told the outlet, “We are waiting. We don’t know anything. There is a suspicion that someone followed her home from work.”
Huatulco bar owner Felipe Ortega said that Flores “never missed a day of work. Not a single day.” “She was very responsible with her work. Reliable. Kind.
“He explained that her death was akin to “losing someone from your family.” “Every year, at the end of the year we have a celebration,” Ortega said.
“And we invite everyone.
The campaign says she leaves behind two children — an 18-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter — who depended entirely on her.
A GoFundMe has been set up to cover expenses.
A GoFundMe was set up for her family following her death, and $12,670 had been raised as of July 27.
Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso wrote on Facebook, “I am told the NYPD believes that the victim and perpetrator knew each other but that motive remains unclear at this time.”
Police have sought the public’s help in locating Cruz.
Police said anyone with information regarding Cruz or the crime should notify Detective Alexander Caruso at 718-439-4236 or Detective Borough Brooklyn South at 718-287-3239.
The flyer from the NYPD states his last known address was 7603 Fifth Ave.
In the viral moment early Saturday morning, June 20,
authorities found Maria Santos Flores, 36, unconscious in the stairwell in the multi-apartment home on 85th Street in Bay Ridge at around 9:12 a.m.
The suspect apparently followed Santos Flores home from the Huatulco Sports Bar on East 36th Street in Sunset Park.
She was home alone when she was killed.
Investigators believe there may have been a connection between the two.