A 15-year-old girl accused of cold-blooded murder–it’s no wonder the Daphne Abdela case made headlines. Yet after the trial the attention on the case faded, so we wanted to know where she is now? Here is everything we found out.
Daphne Abdela, nicknamed “The Baby-Faced Butcher” was by all outward appearances a normal teenage girl. Yet she harbored a dark secret, as Abdela and her boyfriend Christopher Vazquez were convicted of the stabbing death of 44-year-old Michael McMorrow. Their story was covered on the new Netflix hit series Homicide: New York, the latest true crime show from Law and Order creator, Dick Wolf. The new series has been an instant success, becoming the #1 watched show on Netflix the first day of its release, and the Daphne Abdela case was one of its most shocking.
Who is Daphne Abdela?
Daphne Abdela is the adopted daughter of French model, Catherine Abdela and business tycoon Angelo Abdela. In 1997, Daphne was fifteen years old and lived in New York City. Despite appearing like she had a perfect life Daphne exhibited behavior problems beneath the surface. She was asked to leave her private school due to behavior and substance abuse issues, and by the age of 15, Daphne had twice attended rehab facilities.
The night of the murder, in fact, Abdela’s father had called the police, as she had missed her curfew and there was fear she had gone missing. Yet when law enforcement arrived at the apartment building, Daphne was found in a maintenance room with her boyfriend at the time, fellow 15-year-old, Christopher Vazquez.
Meanwhile, in Central Park, police officers were making a gruesome discovery. A body was found stabbed multiple times and floating in the lake in Central Park. Little did they know the two events were connected. Abdela eventually revealed to law enforcement that she and Vazquez were the ones responsible for the murder of the man who had been found in the lake. Soon the young teen would find herself on trial for murder and before long, she pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. She was a convicted murderer at the age of 15 and was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Where is Daphne Abdela now?
Daphne Abdela was released in 2004 after six years of incarceration but unfortunately, she was quick to re-offend. She was put back on law enforcement radar due to an altercation with another resident of her halfway house facility. Her former boyfriend Vazquez, has not been known to re-offend and was released in 2004 also.
Abdela is reported to have left a note of remorse to her victim, on the bench in Central Park. According to Distractify, it stated “I’m sorry I failed you. I’m sorry for the pain I caused you and your family.”
Abdela also, according to the New York Post filed a lawsuit claiming she sustained ‘serious personal injuries’ from a car accident in Harlem in 2009. The result of the lawsuit is unknown and Abdela has stayed out of the spotlight ever since. Yet many remain nervous that Abdela’s short temper, aggressive outbursts, and violent past could leave her open to reoffending sometime in the future.
Daphne Abdela has a very unusual past, so it’s little wonder she’s not a media darling in the present day. Little is known about what she has been up to the last decade, but with the resurgence of her story through the Netflix series, more may be revealed about her bizarre life.