A 61-year-old Norwood woman died after she was found with stab wounds inside her own apartment late Monday night, and police sources say her 43-year-old son is now facing murder charges in her death. Annie Nesmith was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital following the attack at 16 East 208th Street, with her son, Martin Thomas, taken into custody.
According to amNewYork, NYPD 52nd Precinct officers were called to the Norwood apartment building around 10:13 p.m. on Monday after the victim's grandson and the suspect's son phoned 911 to report that Nesmith was being assaulted. When officers arrived, they found Nesmith with stab wounds to her neck and body. EMS rushed her to St. Barnabas Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Police sources said Nesmith reportedly called her grandson during the attack, though it remains unclear what, if anything, was communicated in that call before he reached out to 911. That detail, along with the broader sequence of events, has not been independently confirmed beyond the police account relayed to the outlet.
Son Taken Into Custody, Charged Early Tuesday
Thomas, identified by police sources as Nesmith's 43-year-old son, was taken into custody and questioned at the 52nd Precinct stationhouse following the stabbing. Sources familiar with the investigation told the outlet that Thomas was mentally disturbed at the time of the incident. He was charged early Tuesday morning with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
No additional detail about Thomas's relationship with his mother, what preceded the confrontation, or his current custody status beyond the charges has been made available in the reporting so far.
Not the First Fatal Stabbing in Norwood
The Nesmith case adds to a string of violent incidents that have unfolded in the Bronx neighborhood in recent years. On May 14, 2026, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that Dulce Dayana Hernandez Jimenez had been charged with second-degree murder and related offenses after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend, 35-year-old Ramon Vasquez, to death on Webster Avenue in Norwood in March, as reported by Norwood News. Investigators said Hernandez Jimenez allegedly stabbed Vasquez multiple times, including once in the chest, with a butterfly knife; Vasquez was also taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he later died.
Years earlier, in March 2022, officers responded to a fatal stabbing inside an apartment at 3135 Perry Avenue, also within the 52nd Precinct, where a 29-year-old man was found with stab wounds to his neck and chest. Norwood News identified that victim as Jonathan Hutcherson, 29, and reported that a 21-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman who were also inside the apartment were taken into custody at the scene.
These earlier cases show that Norwood has seen multiple fatal stabbings over the past several years, though nothing in the available reporting establishes whether such incidents are increasing or unusually frequent for the neighborhood.
Anyone affected by domestic violence can reach the city's domestic violence hotline 24 hours a day at 1-800-621-HOPE.
