Juanita Caballero (78), Myrtle McKenny (82), and Jacolia James (83) were all allegedly murdered by Kevin Gavin (66) while living in the same building

[JohnLanders]

https://www.pix11.com/news/local-new...ment-officials

BROWNSVILLE, Brooklyn ? Police are investigating the death of a woman found with a cord wrapped around her neck inside her Brooklyn home on Friday, according to the NYPD.

Officers responding to a 911 call at NYCHA?s Woodson Houses on Powell Street in Brownsville found 78-year-old Juanita Cabarello unconscious and unresponsive just before 7 p.m., according to investigators.
Cabarello was lying on the floor in the hallway of her apartment with a cord around her neck, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The city medical examiner will determine her cause of death.

If Cabarello?s death is ruled a homicide, she will be the third such case in the Woodson Houses complex within the last four years, according to City Council member Inez Barron and state Assembly member Charles Barron. The local leaders say the two previous crimes also remain unsolved.

Now, they're calling on the city to finish installing security cameras at the NYCHA complex, which provides housing for seniors.
neck in Brooklyn NYCHA apartment.

Funding for the purchase, installation and operation of security cameras at the development was secured in 2018, but the project was halted in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the officials.

Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

[raisedbywolves]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...derly-n1255192

New York City police arrest man suspected of killing 3 elderly women in same building

Authorities have made an arrest in connection with a series of homicides of elderly women in Brooklyn, including a 78-year-old woman found strangled in her home last week, NYPD officials said Thursday.

The suspect, identified as 66-year-old Kevin Gavin, lived in the same Brownsville public housing building as his three alleged victims, whom he may have befriended by running errands for them, NYPD officials said.

The most recent death in the pattern came Friday, when the son of Juanita Caballero came to spend the weekend with her and found her dead with a phone cord around her neck. It was during the course of that investigation, police say, that detectives linked Cabellero's killing to two other homicides dating back years.

Investigating a recent homicide, your @NYPDDetectives connected it to the deaths of 2 other seniors in the building dating back to 2015.

Today, because of your NYPD detectives’ relentless investigatory work, we announce that 1 man is being charged with all 3 of these murders. https://t.co/B1jFm5krEn
— Commissioner Shea (@NYPDShea) January 21, 2021

The first case -- the death of 82-year-old Myrtle McKenny, who was found by a health aide on Nov. 9, 2015 -- initially was thought to be natural causes. Funeral home workers later discovered a stab wound to her neck. There were few leads.

Nearly four years later, 83-year-old Jacolia James, another woman who lived at the Powell Street building, was found dead by her grandson on April 30, 2019. He had seen her alive at 7 p.m. earlier that evening. Four hours later, he found her dead. She had injuries to her face and neck.

At the time, James' friends in the building said they believed police would have known who was responsible for her killing if their building had cameras, which elected officials had pressed NYCHA to install.

Her son, Edward James, vowed not to stop fighting until he got justice for his mother. Police say they're working now to make sure she gets it.

The building currently has four cameras, police officials said Thursday. Another was supposed to have been added but that plan was foiled by pandemic-related budget cuts, investigators have said.

Police say they are looking into other cases for potential links to Gavin, but have not made additional connections beyond the three women at this point.

[up2trouble]

https://nypost.com/2019/05/03/elderl...lyn-apartment/

An elderly woman was battered and killed inside her apartment in a Brooklyn housing project, police said Thursday.

Jacolia James, 83, was found unconscious by a family member inside her apartment in the Carter G. Woodson Houses on Powell Street near Dumont Avenue in Brownsville on Tuesday night, cops said.

Police and medics responded and declared James dead at the scene, cops said. She had a wound on her head and trauma to the body when she was found, authorities said.

Investigators are now working to find out how she was killed and to identify possible suspects in the slaying, police said.

No arrests had been made by Thursday evening, cops said.

[up2trouble]

Lack of NYCHA cameras blamed in Brooklyn serial killings

https://nypost.com/2021/01/21/lack-o...rial-killings/

NYCHA allowed a serial-killing handyman to prowl a Brooklyn housing complex, allegedly stabbing, strangling and bludgeoning three elderly women after they failed to pay him, tenants and victim family members charged Thursday.

Long-promised security cameras might have broken the alleged murder spree at Brownsville’s Woodson Houses last year, they said — at least before the last victim was found Monday with a telephone cord still wrapped around her neck.

Kevin Gavin, 66, of Crown Heights, was arrested Thursday in the three murders; he has confessed to killing his victims — the first in 2015, the second in 2019 — because they didn’t pay him for running their errands, sources have told The Post.

The project was slated to get 65 new security cameras — but only got four, installed in the lobby about a year ago, NYPD Chief of Housing David Barrere told reporters at a press conference announcing Gavin’s arrest Thursday.

None of the four cameras contributed to Thursday’s arrest, officials said.

“We need cameras,” said Lamarr Crafton, the oldest grandson of victim Jacolia James, who he said “always talked about the building needing cameras, because on certain occasions there’d be people wandering the building overnight.

“There are no reasons or excuses that are enough for our families,” Crafton said. “This community needs public safety,” he said. “We don’t know whose grandmother or grandfather could be next.”

“It’s been a struggle getting cameras in this development,” complained tenant
association president Diane Johnson.

“It’s always more about money than the quality life,” she said. “The quality of security they gave us is the bottom of the barrel.”

Local politicians also called on the NYPD to investigate further the death of a man who fell from a ladder in September.

The neighborhood gets short shrift, City Council member Inez Barron complained at an afternoon press conference at the Woodson Houses.

“The NYPD has been negligent and has not put the resources into solving these crimes in a timely matter,” she said, blaming “systemic racism.”

“If this were white senior citizens you would have taken the case more seriously the first time around,” said Assemblyman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn).

NYCHA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[up2trouble]

NYPD didn’t realize ‘serial killer handyman’s’ first victim was murdered

https://nypost.com/2021/01/21/nypd-d...m-was-stabbed/

A savvy Brooklyn funeral director found what the NYPD initially missed — a small stab wound in an elderly woman’s neck that officials say helped link her death to an alleged serial killer.

In announcing the arrest of Kevin Gavin, 66 — who officials say murdered three older women who failed to pay him for doing errands — police admitted Thursday that it wasn’t until the first victim’s body was at the funeral home that her fatal stab wound was discovered on the left side of the back of her neck.

Myrtle McKenny was found dead in her apartment at the housing project in 2015, by a home health aide, officials said.

The NYPD initially ruled her death non-suspicious, the NYPD admitted.

But the director of Caribbean Funeral Service on Nostrand Avenue confirmed to The Post that he had spotted the “suspicious” wound while embalming McKenny back in 2015.

“Wow,” Wayne Watts said when told the discovery helped link McKenny to the series of deaths.

“I’m glad to hear that the murder has been solved. Especially, when it’s an elderly person, it’s more sensitive.”

Watts said he reported the stab wound to the Medical Examiner’s Office while he was preparing the body for the funeral services.

He said the ME’s office sent an investigator to follow up and take the case.

An NYPD officer came back two or three years later to follow up again about the case, according to Watts.

“This is the profession,” he said.

“That is what we are supposed to do as a human being. We’re supposed to point out suspicious things.”

[up2trouble]

NYPD arrests suspect in serial killings of elderly Brooklyn women

https://nypost.com/2021/01/21/nypd-a...elderly-women/

A man known for running errands for the elderly in his Brooklyn housing project had a dark secret for years, police said Thursday: If they didn’t pay him, he’d murder them.

The NYPD has arrested a suspect in the serial slayings of three women in their Brownsville building, the most recently from Friday, officials announced at a press conference.

Kevin Gavin, 66, committed “unspeakable acts of violence” against women who trusted him enough to let him inside their homes, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez told reporters.

Gavin allegedly strangled, stabbed and bludgeoned his victims at 393 Powell St. in the Carter G. Woodson Houses, a short drive from his home, officials said.

The suspect is a handyman who confessed to the grisly slayings, telling cops that the victims owed him money, a law enforcement source said.

The NYPD is checking to see if there were other victims.

“We are continuing to follow all leads on any other incidents with which Mr. Gavin may be involved,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison told reporters in announcing Gavin’s arrest.

“He had a relationship with the victims. What we believe at this time is it sounds like the reason why he might have committed these acts is over an argument over money or finances.”

The most recent victim, Juanita Caballero, 78, was found in her sixth-floor apartment with a cord around her neck Friday, police said.

Gavin lived just four apartments down on the same floor, police said.

In May 2019, he allegedly fatally bludgeoned Jacolia “Jackie” James, 83, whose battered body was discovered by a family member.

He killed another elderly woman, Myrtle McKenny, at the housing project in 2015, officials said. She was fatally stabbed in the neck.

“Our hearts and our prayers go out to the families,” Gonzalez said. His office is putting together a grand jury on the case.

“I wanted the community to know that I know how devastating these losses have been to the people of Brownsville, residents from those houses,” Gonzalez said.

“These women are beloved mothers, grandmothers and neighbors,” he added, noting “the fear that has existed in the Woodson houses regarding what’s happening there.”

He added, “He was allowed into their homes and did unspeakable acts of violence against them.”

[up2trouble]

PLEASE NOTE:

I had thought about putting Ms. James on our site but never did; I didn't realize it was a serial killer case. After doing a little more research, I decided to include each known victim. I think they belong together. However, the final decision to keep together or separate is up to RBW. I trust her judgment.

[raisedbywolves]

PLEASE NOTE:

I had thought about putting Ms. James on our site but never did; I didn't realize it was a serial killer case. After doing a little more research, I decided to include each known victim. I think they belong together. However, the final decision to keep together or separate is up to RBW. I trust her judgment.

JL had one of them and you had the other, and we were missing the 3rd victim, so I just added the story about all three to his and combined yours with them since it appears to be a serial killer.

[up2trouble]

JL had one of them and you had the other, and we were missing the 3rd victim, so I just added the story about all three to his and combined yours with them since it appears to be a serial killer.

perfect solution ... thanks!