Boyfriend charged in ’91 Bx. slay

POLICE HAVE busted a convicted felon they say killed his ex-girlfriend in the Bronx more than 25 years ago, officials said Tuesday.

Stacy Nelson, 56, was charged with the murder of Leah Gibson inside her Bronx apartment on June 7, 1991.

Nelson was arrested for the killing on May 16 after he was questioned at the 50th Precinct stationhouse, and has been charged with murder and manslaughter. NYPD Cold Case Detectives Steven Berger and Pedro Toledo made the arrest.

Gibson, a 30-year-old secretary at Public School 299 in Brooklyn, was found strangled in her Grand Concourse apartment. Investigators believe she was killed the night before her body was found. Police sources said investigators always suspected Nelson, who had dated Gibson.

Cops recovered DNA from under Gibson’s fingernails, police sources said. In 2004, after the NYPD received a grant to help it review old homicides, cops ran the DNA again with the help of the city medical examiner’s office — and learned that it matched Nelson’s.

Nelson claimed to have an alibi, and the DNA alone wasn’t enough evidence for an arrest since the two were lovers, officials said. But in repeated questioning of Nelson since 2008, the suspect made incriminating and contradictory statements, giving authorities enough evidence to file murder charges, officials said.

“This young woman was murdered many years ago and with it being unsolved, it was creating further anguish for her mother, as well as her family and friends,” Berger said in a statement. “I promised her mother I would not retire until I made an arrest in the murder of her daughter.”

“I hope this provides some closure and eases the grief for her mother,” he added.

Nelson has an extensive criminal history, mostly for drug possession, officials said.

He was sentenced to prison on three separate occasions between 1980 and 2002, including a six-year stint starting in 1982 for attempted murder, court records show.

Nelson is due back in court on June 20 to face the new charges.