A teenage boy made a horrifying discovery when he found his mother dead with her throat slit inside their Brooklyn home.Maria Santos Flores, 36, was found with a deep cut to her neck at her residence on 85th Street near 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge.Her son and her sister, Angelica Flores, discovered the body. “I came to visit her and found her like this,” the sister told The New York Post, speaking outside the home as relatives gathered in shock and grief. “She had just come home from work.”Another sister, Daisy Flores, said the family originally came from El Salvador. She described Maria as a caring person who worked hard to support her family. “She liked to help people and she took care of her family,” she said. “We don’t understand what happened.”Flores worked as a bartender at Huatulco Sports Bar in Sunset Park and often worked night shifts. Family members believe she may have been followed home after work.“The police aren’t telling us what happened yet,” her husband Antonio Hernandez said. “We are waiting. We don’t know anything. There is a suspicion that someone followed her home from work.”He added that their two children, aged 3 and 17, were at home at the time of the incident. “When I took the car this morning to go to work, she hadn’t arrived yet,” he said, explaining he left for work at around 7:30 am.Outside the home, NYPD officers placed yellow evidence markers on items found on the pavement, including a bloodstained tissue. Evidence bags were also removed from the property.City data shows murders in New York have dropped by 23% so far this year compared to the same period in 2025.At the bar where she worked, colleagues and customers struggled to process the news. One employee broke down in tears upon learning she was Salvadoran, asking, “Elli?” and adding, “We knew her as Elli Flores? She lived on 86th street?”Bar owner Felipe Ortega described her as a dedicated worker who rarely missed a shift. “She never missed a day of work. Not a single day,” he said.“She was very responsible with her work. Reliable. Kind.”He added that the tragedy felt personal to staff. “Every year, at the end of the year we have a celebration,” he said. “And we invite everyone. She’d been working here about 3 years.”Co-workers also remembered her. Bouncer Papo Vazquez said, “She was so sweet.” Another bouncer, Nigel Kelly, added: “She was a sweetheart. I can’t believe this happened.”
