Oneonta Police Continue To Hunt For The Memorial Day Killer

Note: Some of the details of the article are graphic

Oneonta cops are said to be closing in on a suspect in the Bloody Alley murder case.

“I do expect there to be a resolution in the relatively near future,” Mayor Mark Drnek said in an exclusive CNY News interview. “The Oneonta police department has been doing a phenomenal job working with the state police” to solve the killing.

24-year-old Kaleb O’Neill was stabbed multiple times on Memorial Day in a grimy Dietz Street alleyway behind what was once the elegant Oneonta Hotel.  The EMS crew on the scene of the savage murder and the emergency doctors and nurses at A.O. Fox Hospital were unable to save O’Neill’s life.

Authorities said O’Neill was brutally stabbed numerous times including several deep wounds in his neck.  O’Neill bled to death in a filthy back alley while the killer fled the scene of the crime.

O’Neill’s lifelong friend Darius Haithman told CNY News O’Neill’s throat was slit. But OPD Chief Christopher Witzenburg disputed that account saying only that the victim had several stab wounds in his throat.  OPD officers along with the Major Crimes Unit of the state police are interviewing possible witnesses, friends and family of the victim.

“We have had over 110 leads being pursued,” Drnek said. “What is important for people to know is that this was not” a random killing.

However, there have been at least two recent burglaries in Bloody Alley during the last month.  Detectives are continuing to seek additional leads in the case.