Police: Neighbor killed 3 elderly women at Brownsville NYCHA complex

Police say a man killed three elderly neighbors in the same NYCHA complex in Brownsville over the past six years.

News 12 Staff

Jan 22, 2021, 3:39 AM

Updated 1,324 days ago

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Police say a man killed three elderly neighbors in the same NYCHA complex in Brownsville over the past six years.
Police say Kevin Gavin knew the women from the Woodson Houses, ran errands for the women and pretended to help them before killing them. Sources tell News 12 Gavin confessed to the three murders.
The most recent killing was this past weekend. Police say Juanita Caballero, a 78-year-old woman with three children and eight grandchildren, was found dead with a cord around her neck inside her apartment. Her son found her, according to police.
Jacolia James was found dead by her grandson back in 2019. She had suffered injuries to her face and neck. 
In 2015, 82-year-old Myrtle Mckenny was found dead by a home health aide. She was thought to have died of natural causes before police revealed that the funeral director found knife wounds on her neck.
Police say Gavin, 66, befriended the women before the killings. Authorities believe arguments over payment for help with chores led to each death.
Authorities didn’t have enough forensic evidence to make an arrest until the most recent slaying.
“Prior to that pattern of deaths that were happening inside those houses, they could not be clearly linked to an individual,” said DA Eric Gonzalez. “But after this unfortunate last killing, we were able to find a very definitive link between the man who has been put in custody and the three cases.”
Gavin has had trouble in the past for drug-related crimes, police say. 
Families living at the complex have been asking NYCHA to install new cameras they had been promised.