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Ray Edwardo Arcentales Sanchez, who works for a cleaning service, was arrested hours after detectives said he violently attacked 36-year-old Yuryin Herrera during a pre-dawn party Thursday at his Abend Street home.
It was Bergen County's fourth homicide in 10 days, all of which produced arrests.
Little Ferry and Moonachie police officers responded to a 911 call from the Herrera’s home shortly after 5 a.m., Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
They found a blood-spattered Sanchez sitting on a curb and Herrera in a pool of blood on the steps behind his home, responders said.
He'd apparently been stabbed several times with one of his own knives.
Herrera – who worked the kitchen at several notable restaurants, most recently as a cook at Carmine’s Italian Restaurant off Times Square -- was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Several people were interviewed, including Herrera’s wife, a pediatric critical care nurse.
Herrera, an avid cyclist and native of Bogotá, Colombia, had previously been a a cook at Sofia Englewood on Engle Street and The Hill in Manhattan.
Sanchez remained held in the Bergen County Jail while awaiting a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack. He’s charged with murder and weapons possession
Musella’s Major Crimes Unit was investigating along with Little Ferry police and assisted by the Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification, which collected evidence.
The killing comes on the heels of a trio of other homicides in Bergen County this month:
Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck also was reviewing what he called the "apparent suicide by gun" by a Lyndhurst resident after he shot at a police officer in front of his home.
AG: Lyndhurst Man Fired At Officer Before Taking Own Life
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