A man from New York, with a disturbing history of violence that includes killing his foster grandmother as a teenager, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for strangling his girlfriend to death.
Waheed Foster, now 44, faced justice for the tragic death of Jessica Miller, a 41-year-old woman. Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark shared the news in a recent press release, revealing that Foster pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and third-degree assault. His sentence for this crime will be added to the 22-year sentence he’s already serving for another brutal attack just weeks after Miller’s body was found.
The heartbreaking events unfolded on August 4, 2022, when Miller visited Foster at a mental health facility in the Bronx. Surveillance footage shows her entering the building with Foster, who signed in at the front desk before heading to his room with her. But later that night, Foster left the building and never came back. Two days later, an employee conducting a routine check of his room made a shocking discovery—Miller’s lifeless body.
While authorities were still investigating Miller’s death, Foster was arrested for another horrific act. This time, it was an unprovoked attack at the Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station in Queens. Foster viciously punched and kicked a commuter, Elizabeth Gomes, in the head while she was on her way to work. The attack left Gomes with devastating injuries, including the loss of her right eye.
In court, Gomes shared how the attack changed her life forever. “Every time I look in the mirror, I always remember,” she said in her statement. Even now, she admitted feeling scared when she rides the train. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz called it a miracle that Gomes survived the assault.
Foster, however, didn’t seem remorseful when discussing the attack in a jailhouse interview with the media. “I wasn’t trying to kill her,” he claimed. “I was just trying to give a real good beating. If I stomped her in the face, she’d be dead.”
Queens Supreme Court Judge Ira Margulis, who sentenced Foster for the subway attack, expressed frustration about how the system handled Foster’s case. “He should have been in a mental hospital, a state hospital being treated there,” the judge said, pointing out Foster’s long history of violent behavior and the risks of taking him off his medication.
Foster’s troubled past is riddled with violence. At just 14, he murdered his 82-year-old foster grandmother. Years later, he stabbed his sister with a screwdriver. In 2010, while being treated for schizophrenia and anti-social personality disorder, he attacked workers at a psychiatric outpatient center. Court records reveal that he stabbed one employee, injured two others, and fled the scene.
Foster’s case is a tragic reminder of the dangers of untreated mental illness and the devastating impact of violent behavior on countless lives. Jessica Miller and Elizabeth Gomes are among the many who have suffered the consequences of his actions, leaving behind stories of pain and resilience.
