Dying of Old Age-or Murder?

Some “natural deaths” are not natural at all. While we tend to think of serial killers as preying on young men and women, there is a significant minority who either aren’t picky when it comes to the age of their victims or specifically target the elderly. On January 21, 2021, for example, 66-year-old Kevin Gavin was charged with the violent murders of three elderly women living in the same Brooklyn apartment complex over the past six years.

According to police, his modus operandi was to run errands and do chores for them, earning their trust and gaining access to their apartments. At some point in time, he murdered them, stealing money, bank cards, and benefit cards. The first victim’s death in 2015, that of 82-year-old Myrtle McKinney, was initially chalked up to congestive heart failure in spite of the fact that she had a stab wound in her neck (apparently noticed only by the funeral director), $800 disappeared from her bank account shortly after her death, and her apartment keys were missing.

Four years later, in April 2019, 83-year-old Jacolia James was found strangled to death. It was only on January 14, 2021, when 78-year-old Juanita Caballero was found, dead and with a phone cord still wrapped around her neck, that detectives found video surveillance pointing the finger at the alleged serial killer. Family members claim that, for a number of reasons, law…