NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Queens woman was arrested and charged Tuesday in the death of an 87-year-old singing coach who police said died days after she was shoved in an unprovoked attack on a Manhattan street.
Lauren Pazienza, a 26-year-old from Astoria, was charged with first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault after turning herself in at the 10th Precinct stationhouse, police said.
Pazienza faces up to 25 years on the manslaughter charge. Bail was set at $500,000 or $1 million bond. She is due to appear back in court on Friday.
Police had been searching nearly two weeks for a woman seen in surveillance images in the death of 87-year-old Barbara Maier Gustern.
Gustern, who had worked with performers like Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry, hit her head and was critically injured in the attack at W. 28th Street and Eighth Avenue in Chelsea on the night of March 10.
Police said Pazienza allegedly crossed the street, came up behind Gustern and pushed her to the ground, causing her to fall and hit her head.
During the incident, Pazienza allegedly called Gustern a "b****" before striking her to the ground and leaving the scene.
SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE BELOW:
A witness observed the alleged attack and quickly came to Gustern’s aid. Before the victim lost consciousness, she relayed details about the incident to a friend and to police.
During the investigation, detectives obtained surveillance footage from the area and other locations, ultimately tracking the suspect identified by the witness to Penn Station. Two people who know Pazienza also identified the suspect through the footage obtained from Penn Station.
She was rushed by EMS to the hospital where she became unconscious and died on March 15, after efforts by doctors to perform life-saving surgery to restore brain function failed. Her cause of death was ruled to be blunt-force trauma to the head.
Pazienza allegedly spent over 20 minutes in the area after the attack, fighting with a man believed to be her fiance and later looked on as an ambulance approached the scene.
Eventually, Pazienza and her fiance were allegedly seen entering Penn Station and using her fiance's MetroCard. The defendant was tracked down through the Times Square subway station to Astoria, Queens, with her fiance.
On March 10, around 9:50 p.m., video surveillance showed the couple entering their Astoria apartment building. The defendant is allegedly wearing the same outfit seen minutes after the attack.
Pazienza allegedly took certain steps to hamper her arrest, including deleting her social media, removing her wedding website and fleeing to her parents' Port Jefferson home on Long Island on March 16.
On March 17, Pazienza allegedly stopped using her cellphone and hid it at her aunt's house.
The NYPD received an anonymous tip on March 19 on the location of the defendant and that she was the person behind the fatal shove.
On Monday, NYPD detectives went to Pazienza's parents' home. Her father allegedly answered the door but did not allow detectives to enter and claimed the defendant was not there.
Ultimately, Pazienza's attorney contacted police and arranged for her surrender.
Chief of Detectives James Essig called the assault “an unprovoked, senseless attack.”
“That’s horrific. An 87-year-old woman, just walking down the street, knocked to the ground,” Essig said at a news conference Tuesday, condemning the “disgusting and disgraceful offense.”
Friends told the New York Times that Gustern had just left her apartment to catch a student’s performance after hosting a rehearsal for a cabaret show in her apartment.
Gustern had been known in the theater world for decades. She worked with singers ranging from the cast members of the 2019 Broadway revival of the musical “Oklahoma!” to experimental theater artist and 2017 MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Taylor Mac, who told the Times she was “one of the great humans that I’ve encountered.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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