TWISTED TALES
Susp blames victims in granny serial killings
The Brooklyn handyman charged with murdering three elderly women in his own NYCHA building gave police chilling versions of how each victim died, including a passive account that ended with one neighbor falling into the steak knife that killed her, according to a complaint.
Accused serial killer Kevin Gavin, 66, gave cops a blow-byblow of the gruesome deaths at the Woodson Houses in Brownsville after his arrest Thursday.
In the 2015 death of Myrtle McKinney, Gavin admitted that he attacked the 82-year-old woman — but claimed he pushed her “into a table where a steak knife was located and it punctured her,” court papers said.
In the most recent Jan. 15 death of Juanita Caballero, the handyman, in an interview with 73rd Precinct cops, said that “during a struggle a phone cord wrapped around (her) neck,” the complaint said.
Gavin was a little more forthcoming when it came to Jacolia
James’ murder in 2019, with the accused killer confessing that he choked the 83-year-old woman and “stomped on her neck three times,” according to court documents.
All three victims, between the ages of 78 and 83, often relied Gavin for help around their homes before the suspect turned murderous, cops said.
The homicides left the building’s 450 residents terrified of a killer lurking in their midst — and police said the 5-foot-10, 200-pound suspect was indeed a man who lived among them. He resided on the sixth floor, as did two of the victims, and sported a glass left eye.
Cops already suspected Gavin of the 2019 killing but a key piece of evidence uncovered in the past few days helped link him to all three, police sources said.
Meanwhile, Caballero’s family said it plans to sue the housing agency that ran the building where the women died. The family said NYCHA’s failure to install adequate security cameras and provide adequate security played a big role in their deaths.
“NYCHA was negligent and reckless in that they failed to provide adequate security to the premises despite prior notice of at least two prior murders,” the Caballero family says in papers filed by lawyer Adam Deutsch.
The family says it will seek $25 million in damages.
James’ daughter, Lynda James, filed suit against the agency in 2020.
Gavin was ordered held without bail at a Brooklyn Criminal Court arraignment Friday afternoon. His defense attorney did not seek bail for his client.
“The defendant is a handyman in the building where there were three victims stabbed and strangled and I believe there is a confession to the incidents and the people are asking for remand,” said prosecutor Wilfredo Cotto.
Judge Claudia Lanzetta agreed and ordered Gavin detained after the brief video appearance.