Arrest leads to indictment in cold case

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A Bronx grand jury indicted 60-year-old Mount Vernon resident Lucius Crawford on Dec. 18 for the 1993 murder of Nella West.

The indictment comes as a result of a 50th Precinct detective’s investigation into the long forgotten murder. On Oct. 20, 1993, 38-year-old Yonkers resident Ms. West was found dead with multiple stab wounds, a broken eye socket and a crushed skull in a vacant lot near 5815 Liebig Ave. in North Riverdale. 

Investigators theorized she was murdered in Yonkers and that her body was dumped a few blocks from the city line in Riverdale. For years, the case went unsolved.

Five-O Det. Christopher Boerke reactivated it earlier this year after speaking with a retired detective who had originally investigated the murder in 1993.

Investigators tested forensic evidence retrieved from vaginal swabs and the DNA found on the woman matched that of Mr. Crawford, according to the indictment. 

Then two weeks ago, Five-O detectives and Yonkers police, who were investigating Mr. Crawford on a similar cold case murder, knocked on the suspect’s door in Mount Vernon and discovered a 41-year-old woman stabbed nine times in the chest under a sheet on his bed. He has been charged with that murder as well.

Mr. Crawford has a history of violence against women and is being held without bail.

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