Who is Kevin Gavin? Brooklyn man who killed 3 elderly women in his building in over 5 years arrested
Officers arrested a Brooklyn handyman for killing three elderly women on separate occasions from 2015 to 2021 inside the same New York City Housing Authority apartment building, New York Police Department officials said on January 21.
Kevin Gavin of Brooklyn was taken into custody by police on January 20 at NYPD’s 73rd precinct in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, according to the officials. He is charged with three counts of second-degree murder and other crimes, the officials said. Gavin was being held while awaiting his arraignment.
Gavin and the three women he is accused of killing all lived in the NYCHA Carter G Woodson Houses senior complex. His first alleged victim, 82-year-old Myrtle McKenny, was found dead on November 9, 2015. Her death was initially thought to be due to natural causes. Funeral home workers later discovered a stab wound to her neck. Gavin is also accused of bludgeoning an 83-year-old woman named Jacolia James to death in her Powell Street building apartment in April 2019. She had injuries in her face and neck.
He is accused of strangling 78-year-old Juanita Caballero in her apartment. The most recent death in the pattern came on January 15 when the son of late Caballero came to spend the weekend with her and found her dead with a phone cord wrapped around her neck. It was during the course of that investigation, police say, that detectives connected Cabellero's killing to two other killings dating back years.
"She didn't deserve this, and I'm not going to stop until we get justice," said Edward James, the son of victim Jacolia James.
"Mr. Gavin was familiar with many of the residents in the building and ran errands for some of the elderly tenants who resided at that location," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison. "What we believe at this time, it sounds like the reason why he might have committed these acts is an argument over money or finances."
After Gavin's brother Leon died in April 2020, Gavin moved into his apartment. It is not clear at this point why he was allowed to move into his brother's apartment. "He had a relationship with our victims," Harrison said. "He used to run errands for them."