NYC: Humanitarian Worker Beheaded by Ethiopian Husband

He also is alleged to have slit the throat of their five-year-old daughter before hanging himself.

The woman’s distraught family says she wanted out of their marriage.

You may have already seen the news—the slaughter happened last Wednesday—but I hadn’t.  Thanks to reader ‘meanymom’ for bringing it to my attention.

The first thing I did was to see what the UK Daily Mail said about the case because they manage to get more details and definitely more photos especially when the story involves something that goes against the non-tabloid US mainstream media’s desired story line.

By all accounts, the Tedlas were living the progressive family dream-life in upscale Harlem.  They had been seen out recently trick or treating on Halloween, so the horror that went on behind closed doors came as a shock to the racially and ethnically mixed neighborhood.

But, even the UK Daily Mail didn’t report on how the brutal killer had become a ‘new American’ describing him only as an African immigrant from Ethiopia. There is no mention of his religion.

Below are some snips from the UK Daily Mail:

Husband, 46, decapitates wife, 42…

Police in New York City are investigating a grisly double murder-suicide in which they say a man decapitated his wife, slit the throat of their five-year-old daughter and then took his own life by hanging Wednesday night, just hours after the woman tried to get an order of protection.

“Neighbors described Tedla to ABC 7 NY as a friendly and kind man who adored his wife and daughter.”

According to the NYPD, at around 9.18pm officers responded to a 911 call requesting a welfare check inside an apartment at 151 West 121st Street in the Harlem section of Manhattan.

Upon entering the unit, officers found Yonathan Tedla, 46, Jennifer Schlecht, 42, and their five-year-old daughter, Abaynesh Schlecht Tedla, dead inside.

It is unclear how long the family had been dead before their bodies were discovered.

Schlecht’s heartbroken father, Kenneth Schlecht, 74, tells New York Daily News that his daughter’s marriage was unraveling, and that his son-in-law had threatened to ‘take them all out’ if Jennifer tried to serve him with divorce papers.

[….]

The New York Daily News reported, citing unnamed sources, that Schlecht was found decapitated, with her severed head resting in her lap.

Her daughter suffered a cut so deep to her neck that she was partially beheaded.

The five-year-old’s father was found hanging from a rope tied to a bedroom door.

[….]

Kenneth Schlecht, Jennifer’s father, tells the Daily News that the last time he spoke to his daughter was last Sunday and she was in tears.

‘She said her husband had indicated that if she served him with divorce papers he would ruin her or take them all out, which was apparently what he did,’ he said.

Jennifer and Yonathan Tedla, an immigrant from Ethiopia, met in the early aughts [early 2000s—ed] at Columbia University, where she was attending graduate school and he was working as an IT technician.

Jennifer Tedla was a senior adviser for a UN Foundation project called FP2020 which advocated for the rights of women and girls to make reproductive decisions for themselves.

UK Daily Mail continues…

Jennifer (kneeling) worked on women’t rights issues around the world

 

Schlecht [apparently she used her maiden name—ed] served as a senior adviser for emergency preparedness and response with the humanitarian partnership Family Planning 2020.

Beth Schlachter, executive director of FP2020, sent a statement to DailyMail.com addressing the tragedy.

‘Jennifer Schlecht devoted her entire career to ensuring that women and girls in crisis situations have access to the best medical care possible including family planning and other reproductive health care,’ it read. ‘Most recently, she has been a vital part of the FP2020 family at the United Nations Foundation.

She was a leader in the field of family planning and humanitarian response, and chose to work from New York so she could have more time with her darling daughter.

There is more here. There are links to other news accounts plus many more photos.

If anyone sees any information about how the killer became a ‘new American’ send it my way.  We do admit many refugees from Ethiopia, so I’m wondering if he came as a UN chosen refugee.