Mom seeks public’s help year after daughter’s killing

A mother whose daughter was stabbed to death in Wyandanch last year renewed her plea for answers Friday. Her mother Betty Harper, of Amityville, says she wonders every day what happened. She's asking

News 12 Staff

Oct 15, 2016, 6:30 AM

Updated 2,918 days ago

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A mother whose daughter was stabbed to death in Wyandanch last year renewed her plea for answers Friday.
Her mother Betty Harper, of Amityville, says she wonders every day what happened. She's asking for anyone with information on the attack to come forward.
Harper says her daughter was stabbed as many as 19 times and left to die last year. Joyce Benjamin, 50, remained unconscious for more than six months before succumbing to her wounds on May 30.
"How would you feel?" Harper asks. "She couldn't say nothing -- just lay there. She couldn't speak. She couldn't eat...I don't know how someone could do that."
Benjamin, a graduate of Wyandanch High School, once had hopes of becoming a nurse. But Harper says her daughter fell victim to a drug addiction that took over her life. She spent 20 years in and out of rehab.
"Sometimes I wish I could have done more for her, but I did all I could," Harper says. 
Anyone with information is asked to call Suffolk Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.