Mom of slain tarot card reader Anna Torres heartbroken on Mother’s Day

The grieving mother of slain Queens tarot card reader Anna Torres said she was heartbroken without her daughter on Mother’s Day – but would ‘put on a happy face’ for her grandchildren.

“It’s going to be very, very sad because Anna won’t be here,” Aurea Ruiz, 74, told The Post. “But she wouldn’t want me to be sad.

“I’m going to put a happy face on my kids and grandkids because if I start crying they’re going to cry and I want them to be happy,” said Ruiz, who is currently bedridden at Queens General Hospital.

“My daughter was my angel,” Ruiz added. “She was wonderful, beautiful. Everyone loved him.

Torres’ mother, Aurea Ruiz, was in the house at the time of the shooting.

Torres, 51, a beloved Ozone Park mom who did psychic readings from her home, was shot and killed by a disgruntled customer as she answered her door on May 4.

Giuseppe Canzani, 41, a drug addict charged with the murder, surrendered to police at the 106th Precinct police station about an hour after the shooting.

He is being held without bond for murder and weapons in this case.

Ruiz said she lay helpless in another room as her daughter was shot in cold blood.

“My grandson’s wife came to me and said, ‘What happened?’ I said I think they shot Anna. Go see what happened,” Ruiz recalled. “She went to the door. She said, ‘I don’t see her. She thought it was a joke and Anna was out.

“But when she closed the door, she saw it on the floor,” she said. “She didn’t fall in the hallway. She dropped by the steps to go upstairs.

The family called 911 as Torres lay fatally injured in her own home.

“I don’t see anything else,” Ruiz said. “It’s not going to go away. I can’t eat anything. I’m trying to see if I can forget about it, like seeing something else like a birthday party, someone celebrating anything, a wedding party – something happy just to clear my mind. spirit.

Everyone loved Torres, the devastated mother said. Ruiz said her daughter takes care of her and is “my helper”.

Torres' client, Giuseppe Canzani, has been charged with the murder.
Torres’ client, Giuseppe Canzani, has been charged with the murder.
BRIGITTE STELZER
NYPD investigating the scene of the shooting in Queens on May 4, 2022.
NYPD investigating the scene of the shooting in Queens on May 4, 2022.
Dennis A. Clark

The grieving woman said she had eight children with whom she fled an abusive husband – six of whom are still alive after the untimely death of her daughter.

“I loved everything about my daughter,” Ruiz said. “Everything she did was good for everyone and everyone says thank you. I don’t understand why this guy did this.

According to police and sources, Canzani claimed he killed Torres because she cursed him and believed she was “a witch.”

Canzani allegedly killed Torres because he thinks she cursed him, according to law enforcement sources.
Canzani allegedly killed Torres because he believes she cursed him, according to law enforcement sources.
Facebook / Anna Torres

A regular Torres customer has called Canzai’s curse nonsense.

“Even if she was a witch, she wouldn’t do that to anyone,” said Miriam Lester, 47, a Torres client for more than 20 years. “Even though she’s a witch, she does good to help people.”