Where Are Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez Now? Revisiting Their Gruesome ‘Central Park Slaying’ 28 Years Later

Daphne Abdela and her boyfriend, Christopher Vasquez, were just teenagers when they committed one of the most brutal killings in the history of New York City’s Central Park.

In 1997, Abdela and Vasquez were both 15-year-old high school students. Abdela, the daughter of a wealthy couple from the Upper West Side, and Vasquez, the son of a single mother in East Harlem, were social outcasts who formed a bond after meeting earlier that year.

While privileged, Abdela had a troubled background, and her belligerent attitude had gotten her kicked out of more than one school, according to New York Magazine. Abdela and Michael McMorrow, a 44-year-old real estate agent, crossed paths only a handful of times before she and Vasquez ultimately killed him in late May 1997.

Abdela and Vasquez were rollerblading in Central Park when they encountered McMorrow drinking with a group of friends, according to Homicide: New York. It wasn’t long before the teens joined in and lured McMorrow away from the crowd.

Exactly what transpired next is not known for sure, but by the early hours of May 23, McMorrow had been fatally stabbed over 30 times, his body gutted and floating in the Central Park lake.

So where are Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez now? Here’s everything to know about Michael McMorrow’s death 28 years later.

Who are Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez?

In 1997, Abdela was a 15-year-old high school student. As an infant, she had been adopted by Angelo Abdela, a successful businessman at an international food company, and his wife, Catherine, a French model. She lived a life of incredible privilege with her parents in a luxury apartment building on the Upper West Side, per Homicide: New York.

Although Abdela had a normal upbringing, attending a local private school, she changed as she got older. She eventually transferred schools twice and her parents considered sending her to a boarding school.

Meanwhile, Vasquez came from a less affluent background and was raised in East Harlem by his single mother. He was a Boy Scout and altar boy, not known for causing trouble, even getting picked on in school for being introverted. He dealt with agoraphobia, per New York Magazine, and often struggled with social situations and making friends.

Things changed, though, when Abdela and Vasquez met in 1997, connecting over their love of rollerblading. Months later, though, they were in the center of a homicide investigation.

How did Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez know Michael McMorrow?

Michael McMorrow was a lifelong resident of Manhattan, growing up on the Upper West Side. In 1997, the 44-year-old still lived there alongside his elderly mother. According to friends, he was well-liked and popular, working in the real estate field. He had been an agent at Sir Realty for only a few months when he was killed, per The New York Times.

At times, McMorrow struggled with alcohol, and although he was making efforts to recover, he continued to drink, sometimes meeting friends in Central Park after work to have a beer. It was there that McMorrow was ultimately killed.

According to a police report later mentioned in court, Abdela had interacted with McMorrow at Central Park just two weeks before the killing. Abdela was smoking weed in the park, while McMorrow was also there drinking, per The New York Times.

Abdela traded McMorrow a beer for cigarette rolling papers, and when she later told him she had never tried LSD and asked for some, he allegedly provided a sliver. Abdela claimed she began hallucinating and left the park — marking the last time she would see McMorrow before the night of his death.

What happened on the night of Michael McMorrow’s killing?

On May 22, 1997, Abdela and Vasquez met up to spend time together in Central Park. According to Homicide: New York, the pair had agreed to officially start dating that day and then went rollerblading together in the park.

Later in the day, Abdela and Vasquez began drinking and eventually crossed paths with a group of men doing the same — one of those people being McMorrow. What transpired over the next few hours is unclear, but it ultimately led to McMorrow’s death.

At some point in the late evening, a drunken McMorrow reportedly joined Abdela and Vasquez near the edge of the lake in Central Park, where they continued drinking. In the early hours of the morning, a violent confrontation unfolded, with the two teenagers allegedly attacking McMorrow, seemingly without cause.

Despite the victim being over 6 feet tall, Abdela and Vasquez overpowered him and reportedly stabbed him over 30 times, slashing his throat and puncturing his heart six times, prosecutors said. The couple gruesomely continued to mutilate McMorrow, allegedly hoping to conceal his identity.

Then, at Abdela’s suggestion, they gutted his body and filled it with rocks in an effort to make it sink before throwing it into the lake, assistant district attorney Carolyn Streicher said at an arraignment in May 1997 (via The New York Times).

McMorrow’s body was found just hours later, in the early morning of May 23, floating about 100 yards from the tile terrace that surrounds Bethesda Fountain.

How were Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez caught?

In the early hours of May 23, recalled on Homicide: New York, Abdela had long missed her curfew and her father began to worry about her whereabouts, eventually contacting the police. When authorities arrived at the family’s apartment building, the doorman led them to the utility room at the back of the lobby. There, they found the two teens bathing together in a bathtub.

While officer Lee Furman explained on the Netflix show that he noticed a small amount of blood around the scene, Abdela and Vasquez claimed to have been in a roller-skating accident. After Abdela screamed at the officers to leave the room, Abdela’s father told them they were no longer needed and he would take over from there.

Although Furman thought it was the end of the interaction, it was only the beginning. Shortly after leaving the property, 911 received a phone call from the same apartment building from a woman who reported a dead body in Central Park. That caller was Abdela.

Furman returned to the apartment around 2 a.m. and spoke to Abdela, who alleged to have been at Central Park with Vasquez when he took LSD and began acting erratically. Furman recalled on  Homicide: New York that Abdela told him that in Vasquez’s rage, he stabbed and killed McMorrow. Abdela claimed to have tried to save McMorrow but was pushed away by Vasquez, and then calmly told the officer that she had helped Vasquez try to cover up the killing by gutting McMorrow’s body and sinking it in the lake.

By 2:30 a.m., the body had been found, and hours later, police arrested Vasquez at his apartment. Shortly after, authorities also arrested Abdela.

Did Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez plead guilty to murder?

When Abdela and Vasquez were arraigned the day after being arrested, they pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and robbery charges, according to the New York Daily News. An investigation into the killing quickly began, and evidence was collected to charge the two teens with the crime.

During the inquiry, numerous interviews and searches were conducted. Authorities eventually discovered bloody clothing in Abdela’s bedroom as well as a wallet that had belonged to McMorrow. Meanwhile, a knife was uncovered in Vasquez’s room and after testing, DNA from both Vasquez and McMorrow was found on the weapon, per Homicide: New York.

When the evidence was brought in front of a grand jury a week after the killing, the teens were indicted on charges of second-degree murder, per the New York Times. Set to be tried as adults, both Abdela and Vasquez swiftly retained lawyers, with Abdela’s family selecting Ben Brafman to represent their daughter. At the time, Brafman was one of the most prominent defense lawyers in the country.

Before going to trial, Brafman brought Abdela into the District Attorney’s office to tell her side of the story in the hopes that her indictment would be dismissed. In Homicide: New York, homicide detective Robert Mooney said that Abdela tried to claim she had simply been a witness to the crime.

Mooney says Abdela explained that she and Vasquez ran into McMorrow and his pals on the night of the killing. When a police officer scattered the group, McMorrow joined the pair by the lake because they had beer. The teens proceeded to go skinny dipping, and upon emerging from the water, Abdela was freezing. In the interview at the District Attorney’s office, Abdela claimed McMorrow put his arm around her to warm her up, but that set Vasquez off in a jealous rage, and he began to attack McMorrow.

Mooney went on to interview Abdela on several other occasions and eventually got her to admit that she had also taken part in the attack on McMorrow. Claiming she thought McMorrow was going to hurt Vasquez, Abdela says she kicked him during the attack. Investigators then knew she had been more than a witness.

In March 1998, Abdela agreed to a plea deal during which she pled guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. She was sentenced to 39 months to 10 years in prison, avoiding what could have been a murder charge that would have sent her to prison for life, per The New York Times.

“I can never say in a million words how sorry I am,” Abdela said during her sentencing, according to the outlet. “Although it will not bring back Michael McMorrow, it is said from the heart and meant. Please forgive me.”

Meanwhile, Vasquez’s trial did go to court, during which his lawyer claimed that it was Abdela who fatally stabbed McMorrow, not Vasquez, and she was using him as a scapegoat. In November 1998, Vasquez’s lawyer claimed that he was “a follower that night being led around by the pit bull, Daphne Abdela,” per The New York Times.

Abdela did not testify in court, but much of the trial was based on trying to determine who actually stabbed McMorrow. Without Abdela’s testimony, the jury was unable to fully determine who committed the killing. Ultimately, Vasquez was also found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and received a similar sentence to Abdela.

Were Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez released from prison?

During their time in prison, Abdela and Vasquez were up for parole on two occasions, both of which were denied. During the parole hearing in 2002, Abdela was specifically denied because of continued behavioral issues and a “total disregard for human life,” per the New York Times.

Despite the previous denials, both Abdela and Vasquez were released from prison in January 2007, serving six years of their sentence. According to Homicide: New York, they were prohibited from seeing each other.

Abdela allegedly returned to the crime scene, leaving an apology note and a bouquet of flowers on a park bench dedicated to McMorrow. According to the New York Post, the note read, “Rest easy. I tried to save you. I’m sorry I failed you. I’m sorry for the pain I caused you & your family. D.”

But Abdela’s freedom was not long-lasting. While living at a halfway house, she assaulted one of the other residents, violating her parole, per retired homicide detective Rob Mooney, who was on her original case. She was taken back to prison, where she served her full term, spending nine years behind bars in total.

Where are Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez now?

Not much is known about Abdela and Vasquez’s lives after their release from prison. They both returned to New York City but have maintained a low profile outside the public eye.

In 2009, Abdela was reportedly in a car accident that left her “rendered sick, sore, lame and disabled, experiencing mental anguish, great pain and suffering,” according to legal documents acquired by The New York Post. She was most recently seen in April 2024, in photos obtained by The U.S. Sun.

Vasquez, who completed an alcohol-abuse program and received his high-school diploma behind bars, has not faced any legal trouble since the killing. Although he worked as a general mechanic while in prison, it’s unknown what his vocation is today. When The U.S. Sun visited his home in the Bronx in April 2024, he said he wished to be left alone.

“I just wanna live my life and let the past be the past,” he told the outlet.

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