‘Maniac’ who brutally murdered sex worker with iron in NYC hotel arrested in Arizona: police

Police in Arizona have arrested a “maniac” wanted for the brutal death of a sex worker inside a New York City hotel earlier this month where he allegedly beat her with an iron and strangled her before leaving the scene in the victim’s leggings.

Raad Almansoori, 26, is wanted by the NYPD for the horrific killing of 38-year-old Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, a mother of two who was found dead inside the SoHo 54 Hotel on Watts Street on Feb. 8.

Oleas-Arancibia’s body was on the floor under a blanket and bits of plastic were found embedded in her skull, police said. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide due to blunt force trauma. 

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The NYPD launched a search for the suspect who they say was seen leaving the scene wearing the same tight leggings Oleas-Arancibia had on when she checked into the hotel the day before. A pair of blood-splattered men’s pants were found alongside Oleas-Arancibia’s body, police say.

Almansoori was nabbed in a stolen car on Sunday by police who say they were chasing him for kidnapping a female McDonald’s worker whom he dragged into the ladies’ restroom, held her against her will and stabbed her several times.

He carjacked another woman a few days earlier in Phoenix and stabbed her. Both victims in Arizona survived. 

Almansoori was arrested on a slew of charges in Arizona including attempted homicide, robbery and two assault charges as a list of his previous alleged crimes comes to light. 

Police say he kidnapped another sex worker and sexually assaulted her in Sumter County, Florida, in 2023 but was released after posting bail in September. Almansoori also has an outstanding warrant in Texas.

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When he was taken into custody in Arizona he admitted to the McDonald’s attack and the knife incident in Phoenix. He also told police to “Google the SoHo 54 hotel.” 

Police posted a mugshot of Almansoori showing him with injuries to his nose. NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard said at a Tuesday press briefing that the force is “glad that Arizona got this maniac off the streets.”

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at that news conference that police in New York are looking to extradite Almansoori to the Big Apple for the death of Oleas-Arancibia. Kenny said Almansoori was out on bail when Oleas-Arancibia was attacked and has an “extensive out-of-state arrest history.”

Kenny said that Almansoori told Arizona police that he hurt “three additional girls” in Florida. 

Kenny said Almansoori and Oleas-Arancibia got into an argument over the time he was allowed to stay in the room, “and that’s what caused the outburst which caused the attack.”

She did not have a criminal record, Kenny said.  

Almansoori also visited an escort the night before the attack on Oleas-Arancibia, Kenny said.

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Oleas-Arancibia came to the United States five years ago with her 18-year-old son while she left her other son behind. 

Edwin Cevallos, Oleas-Arancibia’s son, told the New York Post that his mother had been acting nervous and worried in the days leading up to her death.

She was “always working for us to give us the best life in this country,” Cevallos said.