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Long Island native identified as person who set himself on fire outside Trump trial in Manhattan

Neighbors remember woman slain in possible ax attack

Neighbors are remembering the woman killed in a possible ax attack over the weekend.

News 12 Staff

Apr 22, 2019, 9:50 PM

Updated 1,824 days ago

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Neighbors are remembering the woman killed in a possible ax attack over the weekend.
Neighbors say Savannah Rivera was a caring and kind woman, and they call her death shocking.
The 20-year-old was at her friend's apartment at the Bushwick Houses when the attack happened. Police say she was almost decapitated when they found her Saturday morning.
Police went to the Bushwick Houses around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. Rivera's friend lived at the apartment with her 4-year-old daughter and had already been taken to the hospital. She is still hospitalized recovering from lacerations. Her daughter was found later in a bedroom unharmed.
The suspect, 34-year-old Jerry Brown, was the boyfriend of Rivera's friend, according to investigators. He is still in the hospital waiting for a psychiatric evaluation.
Now neighbors are trying to comprehend the loss of a bright light in their community.
"It hurts because she's a baby, she didn't deserve this, she didn't deserve this," says her friend Damaris Perez. "I have two daughters, she used to take care of my daughter like, my daughter started crying like, 'Mommy I can't believe Savannah leave like that.'"
Rivera was two months pregnant and also has a 3-year-old son.
Investigators found an ax in the garbage chute but have not confirmed it was the murder weapon. A hardware store a few blocks away told News 12 that detectives did come in to ask about it.
The case is now in the hands of the district attorney.


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