83-year-old ex-convict charged after woman’s head found in New York City apartment

An 83-year-old ex-convict who served 20 years in jail for fatally capturing a girlfriend, acquired out, after which went again to jail for killing one other girlfriend a yr later, is now charged in a brand new crime: the dismemberment of a girl whose head was discovered within the parolee’s condominium.

Prosecutors recognized the ex-convict as Harvey Marcelin, who was free of jail in 2019. Marcelin was arrested in New York Metropolis final week on a cost of concealing a human corpse after being recorded on surveillance video abandoning a bag later discovered to comprise the sufferer’s torso.

A grand jury charged Marcelin on Thursday with homicide.

Marcelin’s court-appointed lawyer did not return telephone messages.

The Brooklyn district legal professional’s workplace recognized the sufferer as Susan Leyden, a 68-year-old Brooklyn resident.

“The information of this horrific case are ugly and unsettling and my coronary heart is with the sufferer’s household and associates,” Brooklyn District Legal professional Eric Gonzalez mentioned in a press release.

 Leyden’s Brooklyn neighbors have been horrified after studying of her sudden dying.

“I am simply heartbroken,” neighbor Mary Pupko advised CBS New York.

Although recognized as a person in court docket filings in previous many years, Marcelin was booked this time as a girl, a police spokesperson mentioned. Acquaintances advised reporters Marcelin recognized in recent times as a girl.

Marcelin’s earlier convictions have been for killing live-in girlfriends, in keeping with court docket paperwork.

A jury discovered Marcelin responsible of homicide in 1963 for fatally capturing Jacqueline Bonds inside a Manhattan condominium. On the time, Marcelin was additionally going through an tried rape cost involving one other girl, in keeping with court docket information. The decide gave Marcelin life in jail after jurors have been unable to agree on whether or not the crime justified a dying penalty.

Marcelin was paroled in 1984 and was arrested the next yr for fatally stabbing one other girlfriend and leaving her physique in a trash bag on the street. Marcelin was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 6 to 12 years in jail.

State officers have been reluctant to grant parole when Marcelin turned eligible within the Nineteen Nineties. Throughout one State Parole Board listening to in 1997, Marcelin admitted to having “issues” with ladies, in keeping with court docket information.

Different boards rejected parole citing Marcelin’s “try to put the blame” on the victims.

The brand new investigation started after a passerby discovered a dismembered torso inside a bag on a road nook close to Marcelin’s condominium constructing on March 3.

Surveillance video confirmed Marcelin wheeling a multi-colored bag from the constructing to the nook on March 2 and leaving it there, prosecutors mentioned in a court docket submitting. The torso was found contained in the bag hours later, authorities mentioned.

In accordance with court docket papers, safety video confirmed a girl coming into Marcelin’s constructing rolling the identical bag on February 27. The lady was by no means seen leaving the constructing.

Officers executed a search warrant and located a human head inside Marcelin’s condominium, in keeping with the court docket papers. Police mentioned a leg was later discovered a couple of blocks away.

“She was a quiet girl. I acquired the sense that she appreciated to buy. She was actually fashionable,” one other neighbor advised CBS New York. “It is going to take a very long time to course of this.”