A man may spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of his cousin whose body he dumped in a plastic bin and left on a Bronx sidewalk — while he took money from her, used her home and tricked her young child into helping cover up his crime, according to the district attorney.
Khalid Barrow was found guilty in November of second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse and other charges for the brutal killing of his cousin, Nisaa Walcott. The 35-year-old mother's body was found in a storage bin on University Avenue, in the Highbridge neighborhood in Feb. 2022, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
On Wednesday, the 23-year-old was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the killing, which Bragg called "an unspeakable betrayal."
Prosecutors said that Barrow strangled his cousin on Feb. 16, 2022, inside her East Harlem apartment where he had been staying, then bound her ankles with a WiFi cord and hid her body inside a plastic tub lined with fabric scraps. After moving the bin to a storage room, Barrow scoured the apartment with bleach in an attempt to get rid of evidence.
To throw off family members concerned about her whereabouts after she hadn't been seen for days, detectives believe the cousin immediately starting using Walcott's cell phone, texting her 14-year-old son from the phone. While impersonating his cousin, Barrow manipulated the teen through the texts while asking for her EBT account's PIN and telling him to leave the door to their home unlocked.
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Two days after killing his cousin, Barrow tried to rent a car to take the body upstate, Bragg alleged, but was unsuccessful. That's when he moved the plastic tub with her body inside to the roof of her building — then spent days using her credit card and draining other accounts to buy marijuana, food and drinks, the district attorney said.
The DA said Barrow also texted Walcott's coworkers and other relatives, hoping to prevent anyone from coming to the apartment. But the texts and other things he sent from the phone weren't consistent with previous conversations.
A week after her death, a relative sent a message asking Walcott to send a photo, letting him know she was alright. Barrow used his dead cousin's phone to reply with a photo — but it was an old one that the relative recognized, Bragg said. That relative then reached out to Walcott's son, whom Barrow (still using his cousin's phone) told to say everything was fine.
A day later, after realizing no one knew where she was, family members reported Walcott missing on Feb. 24.
Police spoke with Barrow regarding their investigation into Walcott's whereabouts. Early morning the next day, Barrow brought the plastic bin containing his cousin's body to the Bronx and left the container on the sidewalk. The body was discovered later that day by a man who goes to the area to find things to resell, who said he spotted a leg.
"Khalid Barrow strangled his cousin in her own home, all for his own financial gain. I am amazed by the resiliency of Nisaa Walcott’s family members, who have persevered through the horrific murder of their loved one by her own cousin. They attended the trial every single day, listening to incredibly disturbing testimony," Bragg said. "No sentence can undo this family’s pain, but I hope they continue to heal from this terrible loss."
Officials also said video reviewed by detectives appear to show the cousin at Walcott's East Harlem building, removing a large, plastic container. A second individual can be seen on the video helping transport the container and unload it at the Bronx address where Walcott was found, senior officials said.
Bragg previously said that Barrow concealed the body for days "while he stole her money, used her apartment, and tricked her young child to cover his tracks. Her death left a hole in her family that can never be filled, and my heart goes out to her loved ones."
