NYPD investigating murder of man who died more than a half-century after he was stabbed

New York man died in September due to complications from his stabbing in the late 1950s.

Antonio Ciccarello was stabbed in the late 1950s and died last year. Now NYPD is investigating the case as a murder. Getty Images.

New York police are on the hunt for the killer of a 97-year-old man who died in September.

Homicide investigations are typically difficult, but these detectives face an especially monumental task of identifying the killer, as the stabbing happened more than a half-century ago, the New York Times reported.

Antonio Ciccarello was walking to his job as a porter sometime in the late 1950s when he was stabbed in the back by an unknown assailant. Mr Ciccarello went to the hospital for treatment, but never reported the incident to police.

Last September, Mr Ciccarello passed away at the age of 97, an age generally considered as having lived a full life. But the medical examiner determined Mr Ciccarello would have continued right on living had it not been for complications from his stabbing.

The death certificate says Mr Ciccarello died from a bowel obstruction caused by the surgery that saved him after he was stabbed. The death certificate also says “Homicide”.

Detectives reportedly are finding it difficult to break through in the murder investigation, as many people involved – and possibly the killer – have since died. So far police have failed to locate any witnesses, any leads and any evidence, the Times reported.

Still, they press on, as Mr Ciccarello is being counted as one of New York's 332 murders that happened in 2014.

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