SO SAD

Pregnant Brooklyn bride found stabbed to death
By JENNIFER BAIN, FRANK ROSARIO and PEDRO OLIVEIRA JR.
Last Updated: 10:07 PM, October 20, 2012
Posted: 2:58 PM, October 20, 2012
Benny J. Stumbo (right)
Pregnant bride-to-be Vindalee Smith (left), was found murdered in this East Flatbush home.
 A pregnant Brooklyn woman due to get married tomorrow was found stabbed to death inside her home this morning, cops and friends said.

Vindalee Smith, 38, was found unconscious inside her basement East Flatbush apartment about 9:30 a.m., authorities said.

Smith, who was due to deliver a baby boy in two weeks, had stab wounds to her neck, a source said.

Her devastated oldest daughter, Monique, arrived at the home late morning, screaming, “Where is my mom? I want to see my mom!”

“She fell on the floor and couldn’t get up,” a friend of Smith’s said. “It was so sad. She came for a baby shower and a wedding — but now she has to stay for a funeral.”

Police were looking for suspects or a motive for the slaying, the source added.

Smith worked for a home health-care agency for the elderly. She was a devout Seventh-Day Adventist who frequented the nearby New Dimension Church — where she was supposed to get married today.

“When the church heard of her death, it was unbelievable — everyone was crying, everyone was at a loss,” said Sybil Samuel, 58, who went to Smith’s home with several members of the church. “Whoever did this must be the devil. He took the lives of not one but two people.”

Smith was always the first to arrive at New Dimension — and always brought along a warm smile, friends said.

“Everyone is hurting within the community,” said churchgoer Melrose, who asked her last name not be used. “Vindalee was a good Christian — she didn’t deserve this.

“Whoever did this was a savage, a monster!”

Smith had four children — two teenage boys and two girls in their twenties. She had been living in the apartment for a few weeks while her boys stayed with family friends.

“She was supposed to move out after this weekend, after being married, to bring the family together,” said Pastor Ferron Francis, whose church was all set to throw Smith a baby shower last night.

“She was a jovial person,” the pastor added. “She was a very dedicated and caring person. She was a mother and father to her children and was very protective and supportive of them.”

Francis said Smith had received death threats from a former neighbor with whom she had an ongoing “misunderstanding” in a previous address.

“She had some issues with some people in the past who had actually threatened to kill her and her entire family,” Francis said.

The threats ceased once she moved to East Flatbush. But she told the pastor she had received new threats as recently as two weeks ago, he told The Post.

It is unclear if she reported the recent threats to police — or what sparked the alleged incidents.

Meanwhile, a vigil was held to mark the 1-year death anniversary of another Brownsville mother — Zurana Horton, 34 — who died defending a group of children from a gangbanger’s bullets just two miles from where Smith was killed yesterday.

“We all have to graduate and go to our prom knowing our mother won’t be there,” said Tyquran Horton, 17, whose youngest siblings still don’t understand their mother isn’t coming back. “She’s a hero to all of us.”

Additional reporting by Rebecca Harshbarger and Larry Celona

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