Wanted suspect identified in fatal January Brooklyn stabbing over $10
The ex-wife of a man stabbed in a $10 Brooklyn street argument was eager for an arrest Thursday after police released a photo of the suspected killer in the four-month old murder.
“I pray to God that they get him and he does time,” said Esther Rodriguez, who was married to victim Daniel Ryan. “He took my kids’ father away.”
Cops released a photo of Damique Miller, 22, and asked for the public’s help in tracking down the fugitive. Rodriguez said after seeing the picture she had no idea who the man was.
Miller, believed to be from Marietta, Ga., was wanted for stabbing the 27-year-old Ryan early on Jan. 3 at Humboldt and Moore Sts. in Williamsburg.
Ryan’s heartbroken parents, hopeful of seeing the killer in handcuffs, said they knew the suspect was a neighborhood guy who stayed in Brooklyn for several days afterward before heading south.
“We’re feeling he should have been caught a long time ago,” said mom Iris Ryan, 52. “We’re just waiting for him to get caught. We need justice ... He killed my son for no reason.”
Ryan’s father Danny, 52, and his wife were adamant the killing had nothing to do with money and everything to do with their son’s girlfriend.
“The guy was jealous for him, for the girl,” said Danny Ryan. “I cry every day, every day.”
The victim died three days later at Elmhurst Hospital, and Rodriguez said her two kids with Ryan still have no idea of the circumstances that took their dad away.
“They still ask for their dad,” said Rodriguez, adding she remained unable to tell the children their father was gone forever. “They still go to his house to see their grandma. Especially my 3-year-old — he says, ‘My daddy didn’t come for me.’”
Ryan was the father to two of Rodriguez’s three kids, now ages 6, 3 and 2.
The murder victim’s girlfriend, who witnessed the attack, told police he and his killer were arguing over $10 when Ryan was killed. With the suspect’s photo now public, she recalled the lethal encounter where Miller had his victim on the ground.
“I was crossing the street and I saw blood coming down,” she said Thursday. “I said, ‘What the hell is that?’ I was holding the blood and called the ambulance ... It shouldn’t be like this, this is not right.”
Rodriguez, 29, told the Daily News at the time of the killing that she didn’t know what to tell their their two kids.
“My kids, they’re so small,” she said. “When they ask for daddy, I can’t just say he’s working. It hurts.”
Ryan had worked for a moving company since he was 17, she said.
“He’s amazing,” Rodriguez said. “Known each other since we were young. He’s an amazing father. Great son. Great husband to me. Great brother. Everybody loved him.”
Anyone with information about the suspect was asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
