Convicted killer, 75, found beaten to death in his Brooklyn home 6 years after surviving being stabbed by kidnappers
A convicted killer was found beaten to death in his Brooklyn apartment six years after he survived being kidnapped and stabbed, cops said Monday.
A foul odor emanating from the apartment of Donald Wallace, 75, on W. 23rd St. near Neptune Ave. prompted a 911 call to police who discovered his decomposing body 5:15 p.m. Thursday.
At first, authorities were unable to figure out what killed him but police said the city Medical Examiner determined that Wallace died from a blow to the head.
His death has been deemed a homicide; there have been no arrests. Police believe he was killed by someone he knew, sources said.
His neighbor, Millie Correa, 66, who had befriended Wallace’s wife, Dot, said that she had smelled the odor coming from the apartment.
“That’s what brought the cops to the apartment and when they open the door, he was dead,” she said. “The body was already in decomposition so it was rotting. It was stinking.”
The apartment was not broken into and it did not appear anything was stolen, cops said.
Wallace was paroled in November 1992 after serving 20 years in prison for a murder committed in the Bronx. He was also convicted of robbery, weapon possession and grand larceny in that case.
He later served three years for selling drugs, also in the Bronx, and was paroled in August 2009.
In December 2016, Wallace was confronted by two men to whom he owed money. They threw him in their SUV, then robbed him and stabbed him in the head and back before he got away.
Wallace at first claimed he was abducted by two strangers as he left the Pay-O-Matic check cashing store on Mermaid Ave. near his home, but police said he later admitted he knew his attackers.
They drove him to the the Pay-O-Matic so he could use the ATM to withdraw money to pay them back. When his card didn’t work at the machine they forced him back into the SUV, police said. On their way to try his card at another machine, Wallace fought back and was robbed and stabbed.
He managed to escape their SUV at Avenue W and Nostrand Ave. in Sheepshead Bay.
At his building on Monday, neighbors had various theories about who killed Wallace.
His wife, who died recently, was apparently angry enough at him last year to prompt another woman to predict on his Facebook page that his wife was “going to hunt you down you’re not going to have a good life.”
Correa said Dot confided in her about an affair Wallace was having with a younger woman.
“He used to fool around with that crackhead behind Dot’s back and one day [the younger woman] came to the neighborhood and Dot told, me ‘That’s her Millie! That’s her! Let’s jump her!’” Correa told the Daily News.
Even as Dot’s illness advanced she let Wallace know she did not approve of the affair and worried it could cost him his life, Correa said.
“She told him, ‘Don’t bring her when I die to live in my house because you’re gonna die.’ She always used to tell him that,” according to the neighbor.
But after his wife’s death the younger woman did indeed move in with him, neighbors said. The neighbors haven’t seen the woman since Wallace’s death.
Despite his infidelity, Correa said that he cared for Dot and would share a meal with her when he got a handout.
“He used to get the free food and he used to divide it with the two of them,” Correa said.
Another neighbor, May, 77, said that he would devour her ham and candied yams, which she shared with Wallace whenever she cooked too much.
“He was nice, quiet. He was always walking the dog. I love to cook so whenever I have too much I would call him to come up and get some,” said May, who declined to give her last name.
A close friend who gave his name as C.B. stopped to light a candle at the memorial outside the victim’s building.
“He’d help you and he was very smart. He was like a big uncle to me,” C.B. said. “I’m very shocked about what happened. It still bothers me ... This is a surprise. I did not see this coming at all. Nobody seen this coming.”
“The last time we spoke, we was talking about the Super Bowl,” he added. “He was very happy. Grateful. I took him out to eat.”
Correa said that for all his past troubles and infidelity to Dot, she too liked Wallace.
“He was a great person. He was very nice. He shouldn’t have died that way because he was a very nice person,” she said. “You could ask him for anything and he would give it to you if he could. It’s a shame that he brought that girl to live here with him, knowing the situation, and knowing his wife’s last words to him.”
