A Bellerose man has been charged with murder and burglary for allegedly poisoning his estranged wife with cyanide in her Herricks home, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
Asif Qureshi, 53, was arraigned on Thursday, Jan. 8, for murder and two counts of burglary. He pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on Feb. 18. If Qureshi is convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison, the DA said.
Quereshi is alleged to have entered the Larch Drive home of Aleena Asi, 48, on Oct. 17, 2025, after her 18-year-old daughter left the home to attend college classes, and she left to drop off her 14-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, the DA said.
Once Asif left, Qureshi, dressed in a dark hooded jacket, baseball cap, black gloves and a mask, and holding a red and white tote bag, allegedly unlocked the front door of the home and entered the house, Donnelly said.
Asif returned to the home with her young daughter, while Qureshi was allegedly hidden inside the house, and left with the child again to walk her to school, Donnelly said.
Asif returned to the home just after 9 a.m., and nearly two hours later, Qureshi exited the home and walked to the intersection of Marcus Avenue and Denton Avenue, where he got onto an electric scooter locked to a telephone pole and drove away on Hillside Avenue toward Bellerose, the DA said.
That same afternoon, Asif’s 18-year-old daughter received a call from her younger sister’s school informing her that her mother had never come to pick the child up when school ended, Donnelly said.
The teenager called the police, who arrived at the locked Larch Drive home, and upon arrival, found Asif deceased in her bedroom, lying face up on her bed with red facial burns around her mouth, DA said.
An autopsy determined that she died from asphyxiation due to the inhalation of a chemical agent, later determined to be cyanide, Donnelly said.
Surveillance video obtained during the course of the investigation captured Qureshi in the same clothing, unmasked, at a 7-Eleven and a bus stop in Queens near where he had been living before and after the murder, the DA said.
Video evidence captured on Oct. 10, 2025, also captured him, dressed in the same clothing, locking the electric scooter used to flee the scene a week later to the same pole near Marcus and Denton Avenues, she said.
On that day, Qureshi allegedly walked up to the house, circled it, and then left. He was again captured on video at a 7-Eleven along the route to his home with his mask down, Donnelly said.
A search warrant executed on Qureshi’s home following his arrest recovered black latex gloves similar to those seen in video surveillance and bags consistent with the red and white tote bag Qureshi carried on the day of the murder, the DA said. He was arrested on Oct. 23, 2025.
