Syracuse man charged with murder in fatal Park Street stabbing

A parole alert led Syracuse police to a Park Street home where officers found Robert C. Spears Jr., 25, dead from stab wounds and quickly charged another Syracuse man in the killing. The case moved from a late homicide discovery to a same-day arrest, putting 905 Park St. at the center of another violent death in the city.

Police said the death was reported to the Syracuse Police Department on June 18 through the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision parole division, after someone was stabbed the day before at 905 Park St. Officers found Spears inside the apartment. The address is listed in property records as a single-family home built in 1900, placing the crime scene on a long-established residential block rather than in a larger modern complex.

By later that day, police had charged Anthony R. Moss, 34, of Syracuse, with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Syracuse police said DOCCS parole officers later found Moss at 333 E. Washington St. and turned him over to homicide detectives before he was held at the Onondaga County Justice Center. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said Moss had a violent history.

The case raises immediate questions about what happened inside the apartment and why the death was not immediately reported to police. Prosecutors have not identified a motive, and police have not said whether Spears and Moss knew each other. That leaves investigators to reconstruct the final moments in the apartment through forensic evidence, witness accounts and the timeline that emerged only after the parole division alerted police.

The killing also lands in a part of Syracuse that has seen repeated violence on Park Avenue and Park Street in recent reporting, keeping neighborhood safety in focus for nearby residents. Parkside Commons tenants have also endured crime and other problems for decades, and New York housing officials approved a $268 million transformation of that complex in June 2026. For the west side and surrounding blocks, the latest homicide adds to a pattern that continues to shape daily life and public concern.