The Upper West Side man stabbed to death allegedly by his wife inside their apartment late Monday went on an intoxicated rampage through the building hours earlier, their superintendent said.
James Murray, 48, raised hell in the halls of his Amsterdam Avenue building in the afternoon, ringing bells on his neighbors’ doors, said super Rafael Fermin.
“He was very drunk, ringing all the doorbells in the apartment,” said Fermin, 51.
“Ringing all the bells, trying to get someone to let him in.”
Murray’s frenzied efforts around 3:30 p.m. included trying to get into his own third-floor apartment. Fermin said he didn’t assist Murray because only Murray’s wife, Tracy McCarter, is on the lease.
When he saw the super coming, Murray “step[ped away],” Fermin said — but more chaos was to come that night.
Around 9 p.m., Fermin’s daughter alerted him to screams for help echoing through the building near West 92nd Street, and he ran to find McCarter, 44, over her husband’s bloodied body inside their apartment, the super recalled.
“She was screaming, ‘Come help or he is going to die!’ ” Fermin said. “She had towels on his chest trying to stop the bleeding.
“He was [lying] facing up inside the apartment, behind the door,” continued the super. “The blood was covering the floor and she was screaming for help.”
Murray was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Morningside hospital (formerly St. Luke’s).
McCarter, who social-media profiles indicate is a registered nurse, was arrested early Tuesday on charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
The blade allegedly used in the murder was recovered by investigators, police sources said.
She was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court late Tuesday.
McCarter has no prior NYPD record, and there was no history of domestic incidents reported at their home, authorities said.
Murray was, however, hospitalized after a dispute between the couple in July 2019 due to his level of intoxication, police said.
He told cops at the time that he was “an alcoholic and relapsed.”
Murray had another stumble just last week, Fermin said.
“Tenants came and told me someone was laying in front of the building,” he said. “An ambulance came for him. It’s very sad.”
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Rosner and Aaron Feis