NYC jogger stabbing suspect indicted on murder charge, Brooklyn DA says

A Brooklyn grand jury indicted Sayed Mohassib, 27, on second-degree murder Tuesday in the fatal stabbing of jogger Katie Suarez, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced. Suarez, 28, was stabbed in the neck while running along the Brooklyn waterfront on Oct. 30 and died several days later. Police arrested Mohassib on Saturday, more than a week after the attack.

Gonzalez framed the indictment as a turning point. Suarez, he said, was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, brutally taken in a senseless act of violence. He credited the NYPD with a swift and thorough investigation and said his office will vigorously prosecute the case.

Detectives say surveillance footage placed Mohassib near the Belt Parkway-adjacent bike path the night of the attack. According to the complaint, he told NYPD detectives he brought a knife there because he believed people were going to come and kill his family. He allegedly said he sat on a bench and became covered in blood, and denied stabbing anyone.

The complaint also alleges cameras caught him coming home in nothing but his underwear and dumping items down a garbage chute. He told detectives he got rid of the bloody clothing and the knife, according to the complaint.

Mohassib had been working as a teachers aide at a Brooklyn public elementary school close to the crime scene, a source with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News. New York City school officials said he has been terminated, and NYC Public Schools said it is reviewing its background and hiring process to ensure no stone is left unturned on student safety.

The same source said Mohassib briefly worked for the NYPD before being removed for psychological reasons, was discharged from the Marines over mental health issues and failed to rejoin the department. His mother, Fatma Mohassib, told ABC New York station WABC that her son cycled in and out of psychiatric hospitals, with his longest stay lasting two months. We both lost, she said of Suarez's parents, you lost your daughter, I lost my son. ABC News has reached out to Mohassib's attorney for comment.