An older Brooklyn parolee was convicted on Friday for murdering, dismembering and then discarding an elderly Brooklyn woman's remains.
Harvey Marcelin, 87, of East New York, was convicted of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and concealment of a human corpse, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
According to the evidence and surveillance footage taken on February 27, 2022, the victim, 68-year-old Susan Leyden, is shown entering Marcelin's apartment on Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York. She was never seen leaving the apartment alive, prosecutors said.
Additional surveillance footage showed the defendant rolling a wheeled shopping bag containing a black plastic bag on March 2. The victim’s torso was discovered in that bag in the early morning hours of March 3, according to prosecutors.
In a subsequent search of the defendant’s apartment, police discovered the victim’s head and limbs, as well as blood, cleaning supplies, a hammer, and the box from an electric saw. On March 7, one of the victim’s legs was found near a garbage can about three blocks away. In addition, surveillance video showed the defendant purchasing a saw and cleaning supplies in a Manhattan Home Depot around the time of the victim’s disappearance, prosecutors said.
The Medical Examiner determined that Leyden, who resided in Clinton Hill, suffered blunt force trauma to the head and other physical injuries to her body. The investigation revealed that the defendant and the victim lived in the same shelter in the Bronx in 2019, but the nature of their relationship is unclear, Gonzalez said.
Marcelin was convicted of first-degree murder in Manhattan on October 16, 1963, forming the basis of the first-degree murder charge in this case, Gonzalez added.
"This conviction holds the defendant accountable for the cruel and reprehensible murder of Susan Leyden," Gonzalez said in a statement. "Following the senseless murder, the defendant desecrated the victim’s remains in a manner that truly shocks the conscience."
Marcelin aces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole when sentenced on June 10.
