Naman Shrestha
In May 1997, Michael McMorrow’s body was found floating in the lake of Central Park, sending shockwaves across the city. The episode ‘Central Park Slaying’ of Netflix’s ‘Homicide: New York’ covers all the intricate details surrounding the tragic case, including the events that led to the murder and the investigation that followed. With much of the episode’s focus on Daphne Abdela, Christopher Vasquez, and Michael McMorrow, there is hardly anything revealed about Daphne’s adoptive parents other than the fact that they were influential and wealthy people.
Angelo and Catherine Abdela Were a Wealthy and Influential Couple
The biological parents of Daphne Abdela, unfortunately, met with a fatal car accident and died shortly after giving birth to their daughter. Still an infant, she was put up for adoption by the authorities. Soon, a wealthy married couple — Angelo and Catherine — adopted her and welcomed her into the family. While the latter was a French-born model, Angelo was an Israeli-born executive in an international food company at the time.
Angelo S. Abdela earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics before pursuing an MBA degree in Finance and Marketing from the French business school — INSEAD. In his earlier years in the profession, he went abroad to work in Belgium, South Africa, and Israel. During the 70s, he managed to establish and run a few food companies of his own in Kenya and Turkey. He even purchased Entenmann’s baking business and the spin-off of Corn Products. Before that, he served as the VP of Strategic and Capital Investments at CPC International/Bestfoods, whose brand names include Hellman’s Mayonnaise and Skippy Peanut Butter, from 1968 to 1998. It was a large food services company based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
After that, he was employed as a Managing Director at Citigroup for two years, between 1998 to 2000. Moreover, he even lent his knowledge of financial and business subjects by lecturing on them extensively in the nation as well as abroad. Angelo and Catherine Abdela made sure that Daphne had everything growing up, including the benefit of attending a private school. All three of them used to reside in the Majestic apartment building at 115 Central Park West, which was adjacent to Central Park. The small family of three also traveled to some exotic locations. Despite the nurturing and care, Daphne turned into a rebellious teenager who went off the rails.
Her adoptive parents gave her everything, but Daphne was far from appreciative of them. Catherine took Daphne to practices and meets but she also faced her ignorance as well as bullying. A time came when both Angelo and Catherine became terrified of her. Daphne had turned so hostile towards them that Angelo filed a restraining order on her. After Daphne got involved in the gruesome murder of Michael McMorrow, her parents came to her aid yet again despite her ungratefulness towards them. They used their wealth and influence to appoint a high-profile lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, and even helped her receive light sentences. However, they refrained from making any comments about the case.
While Catherine Passed Away in 2002, Angelo Works at an Investment Company
While Daphne Abdela was serving her sentence behind bars, her 60-year-old adoptive mother, Catherine, met her demise due to a sudden cardiac arrest on September 9, 2002. Her passing has left an unfillable void in the lives of her husband, Angelo, her mother and the rest of her loved ones. As for Angelo Abdela, he fulfilled the responsibility of being a single father after Daphne was released from prison. Currently, he resides in New York City and is self-employed in the International Strategy and Finance sector. Moreover, he has been the Director and Treasurer at New York Angels since 2006.
Read More: Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez: Michael McMorrow’s Killers Maintain a Low Profile Today
