The twisted butcher accused of stabbing two children in an elevator, leaving one dead, was arrested Wednesday after police tracked him down by using DNA evidence and pinging his cellphone, sources said.
Daniel St. Hubert — a convicted felon who was released from prison nine days before the callous East New York attack — was busted blocks away from his family’s home in Jamaica, Queens, according to law-enforcement sources.
Police believe St. Hubert killed Prince Joshua “PJ” Avitto, 6, and severely wounded Mikayla Capers, 7, with a kitchen knife at the Boulevard Houses on Schenck Avenue.
The mother of little PJ said Wednesday night that her son gave her faith that the killer would soon be caught.
“Last night my angel came to me and said, ‘Hold on, Mommy, they are going to get him,’” said PJ’s mother, Aricka McClinton.
“I sleep with my child’s shirt wrapped around my goddamn neck because this idiot took my baby out of here.”
Mikayla is recovering from the attack, and her family celebrated when they heard of the arrest.
“We got him! We got him!” they shouted outside their apartment building.
After getting news of the bust, Mikayla’s great-grandmother Regenia Trevathan, 62, a retired corrections officer, headed down to the 75th Precinct to confront the alleged killer.
“One child is dead and one child is fighting for her life,” Trevathan said. “I’m going to stay vigil until I see that bastard.”
Cops caught the suspected killer at 8 p.m., shortly after Mayor Bill de Blasio attended a press conference to release his photo and begin a citywide manhunt.
St. Hubert’s sister told police that he had shaved his beard, and a tipster had provided them with his cellphone number, sources said.
St. Hubert had a knife on him when he was found walking near 145th Street and 133rd Avenue in Jamaica, sources said.
“I was coming home from work when I heard tires screeching,” said Happy Singh, a witness to the bust. “I’m so happy they caught him. I have two children myself. And I feel like my kids are safe now.”
Police believe St. Hubert may have also killed 18-year-old Tanaya Grant-Copeland two days earlier. She was stabbed with a similar kitchen knife.
Authorities were also looking into whether St. Hubert stabbed a homeless man in Manhattan on Wednesday morning after surveillance video showed a person matching his description attack the victim in a subway station at 5:30 a.m., sources said.
Tuesday night, St. Hubert was given a summons for urinating in public on Hegeman Avenue in East New York, but at that point, cops had not identified him as the suspect in the stabbings, sources said.
St. Hubert was released from prison May 23 after serving a seven-year sentence for trying to strangle his own mother, police sources said. He was on parole at the time.
Among his earlier raps was assault on a police officer. He also attacked a correction officer while in jail.
Little PJ and Mikayla were going for ice cream when the killer entered the elevator just before 6 p.m. Sunday, according to police.
The fiend was apparently bothered by the children’s chatter and told them to “shut up” — and became enraged when they didn’t listen.
Mikayla survived, despite being stabbed 16 times, and remains in critical condition at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
A lack of security cameras in the building allowed the murderer to slip away unseen.
A relative of St. Hubert denied that he was the killer.
“I know he has a history of mental illness, but I don’t think he would do anything like this,” the relative said. “I believe they have the wrong guy.”
Additional reporting by Dan Prendergast and Matt McNulty