Bronx Patient Arrested for Alleged Fatal Assault on Roommate
A patient at a Bronx hospital, accused of killing her roommate in an unprovoked attack last month, was arrested this week, according to police. Investigators noted that she has a troubling history of violence against hospital staff.
Raquel Horton, 44, was taken into custody on a warrant Monday afternoon at her home in the Bronx. This came over a month after she allegedly assaulted 55-year-old Cynthia Vann on the eighth floor of Lincoln Medical Center, police and prosecutors reported.
Horton is charged with manslaughter and serious assault and is being held without bail pending her arraignment on Tuesday.
Vann and her family had been admitted to the hospital on September 10 for liver treatment. On her first day there, family members and law enforcement indicated that Horton struck Vann multiple times while she slept in her bed.
Vann later succumbed to her injuries on September 27. Her daughter, Taneisha Vann, expressed her heartbreak, stating, “It’s so hard. My mom was my support system. She really was everything to me.” She added, “No one deserves to be assaulted in a hospital while you sleep. You should feel safe.”
Horton was arrested the day after the attack for allegedly hitting a patient assistant who was taking vital signs. The complaint details her shouting, “Why are you holding my hand so tightly?”
While in custody for that incident, authorities connected her to Vann’s assault, but prosecutors postponed the case due to insufficient evidence.
Initially, prosecutors sought to set bail at either $30,000 or $90,000 concerning the attack on the aide, but the judge set it at $5,000 or $1,000. Horton remained at Rikers Island until September 17, when her lawyer filed a petition for her release, which the judge granted the following day, against prosecutors’ wishes.
Horton previously faced charges for allegedly attacking a nurse at the same hospital on July 19. Details surrounding her prior release were not immediately available.
She was also released on her own recognizance following a July 30 arrest for petty theft and criminal possession of stolen property in Manhattan. History shows she served nearly two years in state prison from February 2020 to April 2022 for attempted assault in Brooklyn.
