By Laura Lane
On Wednesday, Nov. 21, police arrived at the Forbes home once again, but this time Michael had been strangled with an electrical cord and was barely alive, according to authorities. He was pronounced dead at Nassau University Medical Center at 10 that morning, the victim of an apparent murder by asphyxiation.
His wife of only a few months, Kelly Forbes, 29, an unemployed medical assistant, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Kelly Forbes, a native of Trinidad with legal U.S. residency, pleaded not guilty.
The case was presented to a grand jury, and on Tuesday, as the Herald went to press, Forbes was released from the Nassau County Correctional Facility, because the grand jury had not indicted her in her husband's death. She was ordered to return to Nassau County Criminal Court in Mineola on Friday.
Michael Forbes had a criminal record, having spent four years and five months in prison after pleading guilty in 1984 to charges of rape, robbery and burglary. He had been charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment and criminal use of a firearm.
Forbes also pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a controlled substance after a 1983 arrest.
The circumstances of Forbes's death remain unclear. He was 6 feet 1 and weighed 250 pounds, and his wife is 5 feet 5 and 150 pounds. The Nassau County medical examiner was conducting toxicology tests on Michael.
"No motive has been revealed yet," said Detective Sgt. Anthony Repolone of the Nassau County Police Department. "But there is enough probable cause to make the arrest. The murder weapon was a 25-foot orange electrical cord, and there were signs of a mild struggle."
Police also said that Kelly Forbes's 7-year-old daughter was home at the time of the murder, but may have been asleep.
Repolone said that there were no domestic abuse calls to the home on record. The only call he could verify was the October call following which Forbes was rushed to the hospital.
Robin Seidman's children took the bus each day to Levy-Lakeside Elementary School with Kelly Forbes's daughter, Michael's stepdaughter. Seidman described her as carefree and friendly. "She was upset about the heart attack and told the other kids on the bus," Seidman recalled, adding that she had never seen the Forbeses. "The night that it happened, the neighbors were all out. We knew something wasn't right there because the police were there often."
Seidman went on to say that the Forbeses were having construction done on their home, and she had seen workers sleeping in their cars in front of the house. She said that might have been why police were called, but she was uncertain. "When I saw the police there the other day, I didn't think anything of it," Seidman said. "Most of the people around here know each other, but they kept to themselves. But you know they were new to the neighborhood. Some of the neighbors said they heard [Kelly] was very depressed. I hope the little girl is OK."
"This community is so nice," said Larry Chen, who has lived on Frankel Boulevard for 18 years. "When I saw the police cars, I thought there had been a burglary. But the police came to my door to say they suspected the wife murdered the husband. I was very surprised."
Kurt Carpenter, a contractor who was working on a house about six doors down from the Forbeses, said he never saw the couple or their child, but he did notice the police cars last week. "At first there were only two cars, but then there was a stream of every kind of cop car in Nassau County. I knew something was happening," he said.
Like the Forbeses, Iris Farber moved to Frankel Boulevard in September. She had considered buying the house the Forbeses moved into, but chose a different one down the street. "This is a quiet neighborhood, and we're very happy here," said Farber as her two small children stood behind her. "I'm very shocked that this happened."
Police said the toxicology report on Michael Forbes would be released by the medical examiner in two to three weeks.
Comments about this story? LLane@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
