Charged in man's '05 murder

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

A former Jersey City woman accused of killing a man by stabbing him in the neck with a broken bottle two years ago made her first appearance in court yesterday on murder charges.

Nikeya S. Foster, 30, formerly of Hoboken and Jersey City, had her hair colored a garish shade of red when she appeared in Central Judicial Processing Court via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny.
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She took a deep breath as Judge Hector Rodriguez read the charges against her, said she had no questions, and thanked the judge when he dismissed her.

She was arrested in Brooklyn Monday and charged with using the broken Old English 800 bottle to kill Ismael Kurkculer, 56, in his Garrison Avenue apartment the morning of May 19, 2005, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said today.

There was "apparently a dispute over money based on services to be performed by Miss Foster - sexual service," DeFazio said.

Kurkculer, a waiter at New York City's historic Algonquin Hotel, was found naked, lying diagonally across his bed in the blood-splattered room, DeFazio said.

His landlord noticed blood outside Kurkculer's apartment and ran to a nearby firehouse to alert firefighters, who then made the gory discovery, DeFazio said. Investigators believe he was killed not long before his body was found at 10:30 a.m., DeFazio said.

Recently homicide detectives got a tip about the murder and were given Foster's name. With that information they linked evidence found at the murder scene to her, DeFazio said.

For more than five years before his death, Kurkculer worked as a waiter at the famed upscale, 174-room Algonquin Hotel, on 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

MICHAELANGELO CONTE