Employee in deli: (seems to have made multiple statements to different outlets, included here for completeness) “He was in the store counting his money to check how much he had to order. She came in after him and she had bags probably from the supermarket. She put her bags by the coffee machine and she came to order,” an employee, who declined to share his name, told The Post. “He told her he’s trying to order his sandwich and she started arguing with him. I told him it wasn’t worth it.” Multiple people who were in the store successfully separated the pair — who the worker said were regulars — but Cruz kept trying to go after Hodges, Even the employee put himself in the middle of the pair to end the fight — which escalated when Cruz hocked a loogie at her victim. “I was in the middle and he was in front of me and she came from behind me and spit in his face,” the deli worker recalled. “That got him mad so he threw the bottle of lemon juice at her.” “That’s when she took the knife and came to him and I had to move.” Cruz allegedly lodged the blade in Hodges’ neck and stomach, the worker explained, adding that he and other customers called 911. https://nypost.com/2025/01/03/us-news/knife-wielding-sicko-spit-on-nyc-postal-worker-before-knifing-him-in-horrific-deli-murder/?utm_source=smartnews&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=referral# (January 3rd, 2025) "I separate them. The mail guy in the front, the lady she was in back. She spit on him, in his face. And mail guy, he got mad. Lemon juice next to the coffee machine, he threw on her. So she took the knife," the deli worker said. "This is so bad. This is my first time seeing this happen in front of my face." https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/usps-worker-killed-nyc-deli-witness/ (January 3rd, 2025) The deli worker said 24-year-old Jaia Cruz was behind Hodge in the store and started arguing over who was in line first. “He told her, ‘I’m trying to order my sandwich. I was here,’” said the deli worker. The deli worker said the two kept arguing, and people unsuccessfully tried to intervene. “I separate them. She came from behind me, and she spit on him,” said the deli worker. The deli worker said Hodge grabbed a bottle to defend himself. “She took a knife and stabbed him in the neck and his stomach,” said the deli worker. https://pix11.com/news/local-news/more-known-about-us-postal-service-worker-stabbed-to-death-in-nyc/ (January 6th, 2025) --------------------------------------------- Deli Customer Janet Rich: When the postal worker placed his order, a woman there became enraged, claiming he had cut her in line and the two began shouting at each other, a witness told The News. “It was over a sandwich,” said Janet Rich, who was in the deli buying coffee when the fight broke out. “It was, ‘I was next. No, I was next.’ It was for nothing.” Rich said that she and another woman inside the store attempted to intervene, but that neither party appeared willing to stand down. “I got in between them — twice,” said Rich. There was another woman with dreadlocks [who] said, ‘Don’t do this, you have a good job. Let this go.'” The postal worker “took off his coat and said, ‘You want to stab me? I picked up his coat and put it back on. I was trying to prevent the fight.” Rich described the woman as “huge” at about 6′ 5″ tall and said she appeared to be high on drugs, as she was literally “foaming at the mouth.” The argument ended when the woman drew a small steak knife and stabbed the postal worker at least three times, Rich said. “She started stabbing him and the next thing you know blood was everywhere,” Rich said. Cellphone footage recorded by Rich shows the wounded postal worker lying on the deli floor in a pool of blood as a man attempts to help him. https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/01/02/nyc-woman-in-custody-for-stabbing-us-postal-service-worker-to-death-in-dispute-at-deli-sandwich-line/ (January 3rd, 2025) --------------------------------------------- Jaia Cruz: She said she distrusted black men such as Hodges and “blacked out” during the fight, according to the filings. “I’m trying to feel guilty, but I’m not really guilty,” she said, according to the papers. “I’m tired, I woke up in a bad mood today. People trying to start with me. I’m like, come on!” https://nypost.com/2025/01/23/us-news/sicko-who-allegedly-knifed-postal-worker-during-nyc-deli-spat-made-chilling-confession-da/ (January 23rd, 2025) “I hope he’s maggot food,” Jaia Cruz, 24, told detectives in a statement recorded at the 28th Precinct stationhouse hours after the Jan. 2 stabbing, according to court documents. “I killed him laughing,” she said. “Oh, well. I’ll piss on his grave.” The defendant told detectives that Hodges accused her of cutting him in the sandwich line at the deli before ridiculing her with homophobic remarks, according to court documents. “I did spit on him because he called me a f—-t,” Cruz’s confession reads. “I called him a dirty monkey. You said hurtful words, so I said hurtful words to you.” As their dispute escalated, Cruz claimed that Hodges struck her three times before she pulled a knife and stabbed him in self-defense, according to court documents. “I told him, ‘You come to me and I’ll kill you,'” Cruz told investigators. “No motherf—-rs are going to put their hands on me no more.” “He tried to mess with me because I’m trans and I poked him up,” said Cruz, who is a transgender woman. Hodges, who lived in the Bronx, reacted to the stabbing with astonishment, saying, “You really stabbed me?” to which Cruz replied, “Yes I did,” court documents state. Cruz insisted throughout her Jan. 2 confession that she “blacked out” during the attack and that she suffers from “mental issues,” according to court documents. “My crazy has no rhyme or rhythm,” Cruz told prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. “I told him, ‘If you raise your hands, I’m going to stab you in the f–king jugular. You attacking me.'” https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/01/23/postal-workers-alleged-killer-jaia-cruz-told-nypd-killed-him-laughing-deli-slaying/ (January 23rd, 2025) --------------------------------------------- Jaia Cruz's Attorney: "Cruz’s defense attorney responded with a completely different characterization of the yet-to-be publicly released surveillance video" https://www.yahoo.com/news/defense-attorney-offers-account-fatal-023849265.html (January 23rd, 2025) [Included because of reference to the video, which is the most specific one I found] Cruz’s defense attorney, Mitchell Schuman, explained Cruz’s claims further at Thursday’s hearing. Schuman alleged that Hodge verbally berated her, calling her homophobic slurs. He also claimed that Hodge was not near the sandwich counter and initiated the conflict. “He rolls up his sleeves, and then he hits my client, and every time he approaches her, she backs up. And he approaches her again, she backs up until she’s all the way at the refrigerator and then when he’s still berating her and calling her a f**got and a tr*nny, she spat at him,” Schuman said. “You can see on the video that she’s saying to him, leave me alone. But he doesn’t leave her alone. He attacks her again.” He also claimed that Hodge was not near the sandwich counter and initiated the conflict. https://www.amny.com/new-york/harlem-deli-stabbing-indictment-01232025/ (January 23rd, 2025) --------------------------------------------- Prosecution: The prosecution described Cruz as the aggressor who argued with Hodge and “used racial slurs” against him, before taking out a knife and stabbing Hodge multiple times in the chest and neck. The prosecution added that Cruz later admitted, in a videotaped statement, to “stabbing him with a knife she carried for protection.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/defense-attorney-offers-account-fatal-023849265.html (January 23rd, 2025) According to the charges, Hodge was at the store’s sandwich counter when Cruz cut in line, leading a dispute between the pair. After a witness separated them, Cruz allegedly went into their bag while Hodge’s back was turned, retrieved a knife and threatened him with it. Prosecutors said Cruz then allegedly threw a plastic bottle at Hodge before lunging at him, stabbing him multiple times in the chest, neck, and arms. After a struggle in which Hodge attempted to wrestle the weapon away from her, he collapsed. A witness reported hearing Cruz remark: “He deserved it.” https://www.amny.com/new-york/harlem-deli-stabbing-indictment-01232025/ (January 23rd, 2025) The Manhattan DA's office said, in part, "In context of the stabbing death including the rapidly evolving and escalating confrontation and the other relevant sentencing considerations that are presented... the people have offered a plea to manslaughter in the first degree." The DA's office confirms it was aware the family was opposed to any offer. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/jaia-cruz-ray-hodge-usps-worker-killed-plea-deal/ (April 16th, 2025) Prosecutors said that Cruz had requested an early resolution in the case. But Hodge’s mom said she was left stunned when Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Clerkin told Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gregory Carro that Cruz “expresses remorse and has asked to accept responsibility for [Hodge’s] death” — despite prosecutors’ admitting Hodge’s family opposed the offer. https://nypost.com/2025/04/16/us-news/mom-of-postal-worker-killed-in-ny-deli-stabbing-slams-plea-deal/ (April 16th, 2025) --------------------------------------------- Hodge's mother: “Initially, the DA told me that there would be no plea deal because they said they saw the video and [that they’re] satisfied,” Rice said, who also expressed regret as to why Cruz hasn’t been charged federally. https://nypost.com/2025/04/16/us-news/mom-of-postal-worker-killed-in-ny-deli-stabbing-slams-plea-deal/ (April 16th, 2025) --------------------------------------------- Judge: “As the, uh, mother of the, uh, victim's child says, this is yet another senseless killing over a trivial misunderstanding... however you did take responsibility early and, yes, proving someone’s intent to kill is very difficult to do in these types of cases. So I understand the people's, uh, reasoning for making this offer. But it's still promised and I'm going to honor that promise: a substantial sentence.” (Transcribed from video) He goes on to sentence her to 15 years and 5 years supervision. https://nypost.com/2025/05/29/us-news/pure-evil-transgender-woman-who-viciously-stabbed-postal-worker-to-death-in-nyc-deli-sentenced-to-15-years/ (May 29th, 2025)