Arizona prosecutor refuses to extradite murder suspect to New York over Bragg's crime response

An Arizona county prosecutor is refusing to allow the man accused of murdering a New York mom and getting away while wearing her leggings to be extradited to New York City to face charges over concerns about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's response to violent crime. 

The suspect, Raad Almansoori, 26, was arrested this week in Surprise, Arizona after he allegedly stabbed an adult woman. He faces at least seven charges, including attempted homicide, connected to events in both Surprise and Phoenix, the Surprise Police Department said on Facebook.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Tuesday that Almansoori was connected to the death of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, a 38-year-old mother and alleged sex worker who was found beaten and strangled to death in a SoHo hotel on Feb. 8, according to The New York Post. 

The mother of two had checked into the hotel the day before her death while wearing what Kenny called a "distinct pair of leggings." Surveillance footage shows a man wearing those same leggings leaving the hotel, and officials said they found a pair of male pants covered with blood in the hotel room. 

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a Republican whose office is overseeing the case, said Wednesday that she is aware of discussions involving the extradition of Almansoori to New York, and although she knows the New York Police Department "did a good job," her agency "will not be agreeing to extradition."

She said: "We're going to keep him here. These are mandatory prison sentences, and having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg, I think it's safer to keep him here and keep him in custody so that he cannot be out doing this to individuals either in our state, county or anywhere in the United States." 

Almansoori was charged last year in Florida with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman, and he was out on bail when he came to New York late last month, Kenny said. He was also previously arrested in Texas and Arizona before his arrest this week. 

"It is deeply disturbing that D.A. Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation," Manhattan D.A. Spokesperson Emily Tuttle said in response to Mitchell's decision. "It is a slap in the face to them and to the victim in our case to refuse to allow us to seek justice and full accountability for a New Yorker's death."

Mitchell responded to the Manhattan DA over X, formerly Twitter. 

"It’s great to see the @ManhattanDA finally take interest in violent crime. My job is to focus on the victims I was elected to protect," she wrote.

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