The man arrested for stabbing 36-year-old Arkmayer Davis to death outside a Bronx homeless shelter on Christmas Eve had previously shouted threats and homophobic slurs at the victim whom he blamed for burning down his apartment, Arkmayer’s husband told the Daily News.
“He was so miserable. But we had nothing to do with his misery,” Daris Antwan Davis said. “I’m glad that he’s gonna get served the justice that he rightfully deserves.
“He took my heart away.”
Police arrested Kayjon Yizar, 28, on Wednesday and charged him with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon for fatally stabbing Davis outside an E. Tremont Ave. homeless shelter where the victim, his husband and the alleged killer had been sleeping for more than three weeks.
All three had been forced into the shelter after the Findlay Ave. building where they lived caught fire on Dec. 2, destroying their possessions and leaving them homeless, Daris Davis said.
The victim’s husband said that Yizar — who lived in the unit above theirs —blamed him for the fire, which began inside the apartment he shared with the victim.
“I feel like it’s because of the fire,” Daris Davis said. “His intention was not to do that to Arkmeyer, it was to do that me. He kept getting the two [of us] confused.”
But Yizar had a history of barking threats and spewing homophobic remarks at his neighbors that extended to long before the fire, according to Daris Davis, who recounted one troubling encounter with the alleged killer in July.
“The man came out the window and was like ‘Get the f–k away from my f—–g window before I put a .22 slugger in your a– you f—–g f—-t.’ Then he said, ‘I’m tired of y’all f—–s,’” Daris Davis said.
He told The News he worked with police to identify Yizar from surveillance footage of the stabbing outside the E. Tremont Ave. homeless shelter and testified to the victim’s history with his alleged killer in front of a grand jury Thursday.
Daris Davis said footage of the stabbing was shown in court, but the video was stopped right before the stabbing after he broke down and wept.
He said the last time he spoke to his husband was at a Morris Heights laundromat shortly before the stabbing and that the next time he saw Arkmeyer he was bloodied and unconscious inside the room they shared at the shelter.
“I came up to him, I shook him. I tried to wake him up and I see that he wasn’t moving,” Daris Davis said. “I looked at his stomach. He wasn’t breathing and I could tell you he had no pulse and he was bleeding out.”
The victim had been stabbed repeatedly in the arm, leg and torso, cops said.
“He bled out and died on the floor right there,” Daris Davis said.
Medics rushed Arkmayer to St. Barnabas Hospital, but he couldn’t be saved.
Now that Yizar is in custody, Daris Davis hopes the alleged killer faces the ultimate punishment for slaying the love of his life.
“I feel like he should get the death penalty and, if not, life in prison and without no parole,” said Daris Davis. “He should never have a chance to see daylight again.
“He should not be held or populated with anybody. He should be in a single cell, by himself, isolated from everybody, so he can see how lonely it is and miserable it is to be by yourself.”