Former league player Samantha Garnier stabbed to death by her husband in the north of the state, state police say; 2 girls also injured

A 32-year-old man has been charged with murder after a stabbing in the north of the state that left his pregnant wife dead and their two young daughters hospitalized, New York State Police and her family said.

The victim, Samantha Garnier, 29, was five months pregnant when she was stabbed Wednesday night, state police said. She grew up on Long Island before moving to Masonville in the western Catskill Mountains, according to her mother, Jean Vernagallo of Centereach. Vernagallo declined further comment.

The two girls, aged 6 and 9, are currently recovering Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

During a news conference Friday outside Troop C headquarters in Unadilla, about 100 miles southwest of Albany, Major Lucas Shuta, the troop commander and state police chief, said the girls are “expected to make a full recovery” and will eventually be released to their relatives.

“Family members have traveled from outside the area and will take care of the girls after they are discharged from the hospital,” Shuta said.

Drew Garnier, who turned himself in at the scene, was arraigned Thursday morning in Delhi Municipal Court on second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder. He remains in the Delaware County Jail without bail, according to state police.

Prosecutors are also working to convene a grand jury before Wednesday, when a preliminary hearing in a criminal case is tentatively scheduled for that day, Delaware County District Attorney Shawn Smith said during Friday's press conference.

According to police, officers found the stabbing victims shortly before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday at a home on Houck Road in Masonville. They responded to a 911 call from Drew Garnier, who reported a domestic dispute there.

A 911 dispatcher told police that the husband tried to apply pressure to his wife's wounds to stop the bleeding, according to a state police investigative report.

Officers Corey King and Ronald King approached the home, a double trailer with a covered porch, with medical bags and guns drawn to treat the injured woman when they saw Drew Garnier stick his head out the door and then duck back in, according to the officers' report.

Officers said they heard a single “high-velocity” gunshot and retreated to the end of the driveway to wait for backup from a Delaware County Sheriff's deputy.

According to the report, officers approached the house again, using the sheriff's patrol car as a shield.

Before they could reach the house, the 9-year-old daughter ran out of the house toward police in blood-stained clothing, cops said. She told them her mother had been stabbed and that a man, later identified as Drew Garnier, was inside the house with a gun, the officer said. As they continued to approach, the second daughter, whose clothing was also blood-stained, fled the house, police said.

After the children were taken to safety and the property was off limits, officers ordered Drew Garnier to come into the house with his hands raised and were able to arrest him, officers said.

Officers said he was covered in blood and had wounds on his hands. They said they found a butter knife in his left front pocket.

Inside the house, officials said, they found Samantha Garnier lying on her side with multiple stab wounds, still conscious. She was flown by helicopter to UHS Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, where she later died.

Police said they found an empty shell casing and a blood-stained AR-15-style rifle with a high-capacity magazine.