Your trusted source

A Nicaraguan diplomat was found dead Thursday, his stomach stabbed and his throat slashed, in his blood-spattered apartment, hours before he was to attend the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting, officials said.

Cesar Mercado, who had worked at the Nicaraguan consulate as acting consul general, was found at 10:35 a.m. in his apartment in the Bronx by the driver who went to pick him up to attend the meeting, police said. He was last seen alive the day before.

Police were investigating, but no suspects were immediately identified. Investigators were looking into Mercado's recent contacts, his relationships and where he had been during the days leading up to the slaying. A motive remained unclear, according to foreign media reports.

Mercado, 34, came to the U.S. in 2001 to work as an assistant in the office of Nicaragua's ambassador to the United Nations.