NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The death of Nicaraguan diplomat Cesar Mercado in his New York apartment "appears to be a homicide," a police official said.
Mercado's driver found his bloody body just inside the door of the diplomat's apartment in the Bronx and his throat had been slashed, the Daily News reported.
"It appears to be a homicide," Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne told CNN.
A knife was found at the scene. A neighbor said he heard a loud commotion about 3 a.m. Thursday but ignored it.
Mercado's driver, Edgar Hernandez, told police he waited to take the diplomat to the United Nations for meetings Thursday and when he didn't come down by 10:30 a.m. he went to the sixth-floor apartment. Hernandez said the apartment door was unlocked and Mercado's fully clothed body was lying on the floor.
Police found a 12-inch steak knife near a bloody sink and a smaller knife in the sink, reports said.
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