Police reveal disturbing details after 83-year-old suspected serial killer arrested in torso murder
EAST NEW YORK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police shared disturbing new details about the 83-year-old suspect accused of killing and dismembering a 68-year-old woman.
On Friday, authorities released video of a person they say is Harvey Marcelin riding a motorized scooter and sitting on a human leg in a 99 cent store in Queens.
Officials have referred to the 83-year-old as a serial killer and investigators are now looking to determine if there are even more victims out there.
Marcelin, who identifies as a transgender woman, was arrested after Susan Leyden's torso was found in a shopping car in Brooklyn last week.
When police executed a search warrant at Marcelin's East New York apartment, they found a human head and an electric saw.
Marcelin, who had served prison time twice for killing two different girlfriends, was charged with second-degree murder, criminal tampering of evidence and the concealment of a human corpse.
"It takes a serial killer off the street, this is just the latest in heinous offenses conducted in a lifetime by Miss Harvey and we could only hope she could do no more," Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
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The suspect was arrested March 4, the day after Leyden's torso was discovered, and has been held without bail since at Rikers Island.
Then, on March 7 what is believed to be Leyden's leg was found in some trash on nearby Jamaica Avenue.
Police believe Leyden was captured on surveillance video entering Marcelin's apartment near the crime scenes on February 27. Marcelin was seen leaving the apartment three days later with a bag believed to contain her torso.
They say the suspect and the victim knew each other for at least two years. Authorities are still going through how the relationship came about and what the real relationship between them was.
"We are still looking into the motive, but based on her history, she's capable of a lot of evil things out there," said NYPD Chief John Chell.
PREVIOUS ARRESTS
Marcelin has spent more than 50 years behind bars and was released from the state prison in August of 2019 and is on lifetime parole.
On April 18, 1963, Marcelin fatally shot a girlfriend in Manhattan and was later convicted of murder before being released on lifetime parole in May of 1984.
Then, on November 2, 1985, Marcelin fatally stabbed another girlfriend, also in Manhattan.
Her dismembered body was found in bags near Central Park, and Marcelin was convicted of manslaughter and later released on lifetime parole in August 2019.
Marcelin also has prior arrests for felony assault in 1957, booking in 1962 and rape in 1963.
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