ASTORIA, QUEENS -- A 64-year-old Queens woman was found dead with a knife in her back in the Astoria Houses on Wednesday morning, police said.

Cops found Donna Blanchard, of Astoria, unconscious inside her apartment at the 28-02 8th St. complex with the knife gauged into her back at around 9:50 a.m., authorities said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are waiting for a Medical Examiner to determine the cause of death but are treating Blanchard's death as a homicide.