A day of joy and celebration turned tragic Wednesday, when a doting Bronx mom was found stabbed to death in her home on her son's birthday.

Zoila Feliz, 22, was planning a party for her toddler son before she was killed, her best friend Gremaris Colon told the Daily News.

"She was bubbly, and devoted to her son. His second birthday is today. She had a party all planned out, and then this happens."

"She would do anything and everything for her son," Colon added

Feliz was found by her worried mom, sprawled on the floor of her apartment with her throat slashed, neighbors said.

Margarita Feliz, 57, knew something was wrong when her daughter failed to stop by the day before, like she did most nights.

So, early Wednesday morning, nearly an hour after midnight, Feliz went to her daughter's Stratford Avenue apartment in Soundview and rang the bell, but got no answer. But she could hear her 2-year-old grandson Jaylen crying through the front door, according to neighbors.

A desperate Feliz got the building's super, who helped her access the building's fire escape. Feliz climbed up, peered through a window, and saw her daughter in a pool of blood, a deep gash across her throat, authorities said.

The boy was physically unharmed, cops said.

"She was a sweet girl. She didn't have any enemies," said Colon, who worked with Feliz at a nearby Walgreens Pharmacy.

Colon said Feliz's mother is devastated — wondering why anyone would want to kill her daughter.

Grieving family and friends packed into her apartment just across the street from her daughter's place.

"She said, 'They took a chunk of my heart,'" Colon recalled.


There were no signs of forced entry, according to Colon.

Cops have made no arrests, but sources said the woman's boyfriend was a person of interest, and was being questioned.

The sources said the man requested a lawyer, and was no longer cooperative.

The city medical examiner will investigate how Feliz died and try to determine how she died, and what type of object caused the cut to her neck, sources said.

Police said Feliz was also stabbed in the stomach.