Man charged with murder after victim's body parts found stored in Brooklyn fridge

WABC logo
Friday, April 12, 2024
Man charged after victim killed and body parts found in fridge
Lindsay Tuchman is in Brooklyn with details on the man charged with murdering a victim over unpaid rent.

FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) -- The man suspected of killing a 39-year-old over a rent dispute and hiding his body parts in a fridge has been charged in the murder.

Nicholas McGee, 45, was extradited from Virginia and is charged with murder, robbery, concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence.

With cuffs on his hands and his feet, he stuck out his tongue to the cameras as he was walked out of the 67th Precinct on Friday morning just off Nostrand Avenue - which is less than a mile away from where the grisly murder occurred nearly two years ago.

He was held without bail at his arraignment in Downtown Brooklyn on Friday afternoon and will return to court Monday.

McGee is charged with killing 39-year-old Kawsheen Gelzer during a dispute over unpaid rent in March 2022, and then chopping up his victim's body and storing the parts in his refrigerator, which was taped shut to stifle the smell.

The body parts were only discovered in January after a wellness check.

Officials say Gelzer had been couch-surfing and paying the residents with drugs - but when he couldn't pay up, police say that's when McGee beat and stabbed him to death.

McGee's common-law wife, Heather Stines, was found at the apartment and was arrested and is cooperating with detectives. That led them to McGee who was already in custody in Chesapeake, Virginia, on an unrelated identity fraud case.

NYPD detectives interviewed him in jail there, where he admitted to the killing.

He said he waited for Gelzer to fall asleep and then beat him with a hammer. When Gelzer woke up, he stabbed him with a knife, killing him, police say.

ALSO READ | Robbery victim speaks out as NYPD investigates bigger crime spree: 'I thought I was going to die'

Anthony Carlo has the story in Washington Heights on the robberies.

----------

* More Brooklyn news

* Send us a news tip

* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts

* Follow us on YouTube

Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News

Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.

Copyright © 2024 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.