The 68-year-old woman allegedly killed and dismembered by a Brooklyn octogenarian and twice-convicted killer died of "homicidal violence," the city's medical examiner said Saturday.
Susan Leyden, whose cause of death included blunt force trauma of the head, was living in an LGBTQ+ elder housing community in Fort Greene at the time of her death, police sources have said.
Harvey Marcelin, an 83-year-old who spent decades in prison for two prior convictions in the deaths of other women, has been indicted in the death of Leyden. She was seen on video sitting on top of a human leg while riding around a store in a motorized scooter and allegedly killing Leyden and disposing of her torso on the street, cops said earlier this month.
Police say the two knew each other, but the extent of their relationship isn't clear.
What is clear, police say, is that Marcelin was captured on video riding a motorized scooter -- and sitting on a human leg. A human leg was found blocks from Leyden's torso a few days later and hasn't been definitively linked to the same victim, but police sources with knowledge of the case did link the appendage to Leyden.
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Marcelin was officially rearrested on charges including murder and tampering with physical evidence in Leyden's death, the NYPD said.
The NYPD had shared video that they say shows the motorized scooter, the leg under it. They say Marcelin is later seen on video on the scooter, talking to someone else in a store that sells clothing, among other merchandise.
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The torso was found earlier in March at the corner of Atlantic and Pennsylvania avenues, just outside a construction safety gear shop next to a carpet store, by a passerby who noticed the bag on his way to a friend's house in Greenpoint and decided to open it up when it was still there on his way home.
He was the one to call 911.
A search warrant executed at Marcelin's apartment turned up a human head, according to a criminal complaint released Thursday, along with blades for a saw. Police sources say tarot cards were also found on a table inside the apartment, and investigators are looking into whether those played a role in Leyden's death.
According to prison records cited by the New York Post, Marcelin has twice been convicted of killings before. Marcelin spent more than 50 years in state prison on murder and manslaughter convictions dating back to 1963. Marcelin’s previous convictions were for killing live-in girlfriends, according to court documents.
A jury found Marcelin guilty of murder in 1963 for shooting and killing Jacqueline Bonds inside a Manhattan apartment. At the time, Marcelin was also facing an attempted rape charge involving another woman, according to court records.
The judge gave Marcelin life in prison after jurors were unable to agree on whether the crime justified the death penalty.
Marcelin was released on lifetime parole in May 1984, the Post reported, and cuffed again for allegedly stabbing another girlfriend less than a year later and leaving her body in a trash bag in the street near Central Park. Marcelin was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six to 12 years in prison.
State officials were reluctant to grant parole when Marcelin became eligible in the 1990s. During one State Parole Board hearing in 1997, Marcelin admitted to having “problems” with women, according to court records. Other boards rejected parole citing Marcelin’s “attempt to place the blame” on the victims.
Marcelin was released from prison in late 2019 on parole.
Police stress their investigation is ongoing. They said they're looking back at similar missing persons cases since Marcelin's latest prison release to determine if there are any more victims. Marcelin is being represented by Legal Aid, which didn't respond to News 4 email requests for comment.
Marcelin was refusing to talk with police after her arrest.
