Cause of Death Revealed for Software Engineer's Wife Found With Chemical Burns To Her Face in 'House of Horrors' By Samira Asma-Sadeque

Months after a New York woman was found deceased with chemical burns to her face, authorities have announced the gruesome manner in which she was allegedly killed inside her residence.

Aleena Asif, 46, was found dead in her Long Island home on Oct. 17 after her teen daughter was notified that Asif had not picked up her youngest child from school.

The daughter then called police, who responded to the residence and found Asif “lying face up on her bed with red facial burns around her mouth,” the Nassau County District Attorney’s office said in a statement last week.

Police promptly arrested the victim’s estranged husband Asif Qureshi, 53, in connection with her killing.

Asif died from “asphyxiation due to the inhalation of a chemical agent,” which the Nassau County Medical Examiner later determined to be cyanide, the DA claimed in the statement.

Investigators allege Qureshi, who CBS News previously reported was an unemployed software engineer, snuck into Asif’s home and was “hiding in the shadows,” while she was dropping off her 14-year-old and 7-year-old at school, per the DA’s office statement.

Her 18-year-old had already left earlier in the morning for her college classes.

Once Asif was home alone, investigators allege Qureshi “held cyanide over her mouth, killed her, and left her body for their children to gruesomely discover,” the DA’s office said.

“A home should be a place of sanctuary, but this defendant turned it into a house of horrors,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in her statement.

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Qureshi was tracked down through surveillance camera footage which allegedly showed a hooded figure unlocking the front door and entering the residence.

Investigators matched the clothing and accessories to Qureshi, who was later seen at a convenience store near his residence, the DA’s office said.

Qureshi has been charged with second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree burglary, per the DA’s office statement. If convicted, he could face 25 years to life in prison.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, the statement said, and is scheduled to be back in court in February.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.