Ex-con indicted in 1994 cold case slay of Harlem mom, daughter
An ex-con has been indicted on murder charges for the cold-case double-killing of a Harlem woman and her special-needs daughter in 1994.
Larry Atkinson, 64, is accused of strangling 57-year-old Sarah Roberts and her 25-year-old daughter Sharon Roberts in their bedrooms inside their Grant Houses apartment on W. 125th St.
He was arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday, where a judge ordered he remain held without bail.
Atkinson was dating the family’s home health care aide, who found the pair dead on Feb. 20, 1994, prosecutors said. Sarah Roberts suffered emphysema.
The aide found the mother dead in a bed in one room, and the daughter in another bedroom with her mom’s oxygen tube and a pair of leggings tied around her neck, prosecutors said.
“As science advances, so does our ability to solve cold cases,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thursday. “Here, new technology led to an indictment alleging the horrific murders of a mother and daughter dating back nearly 30 years.”
Bragg added, “Alongside our partners at [the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner] and the NYPD, we remain steadfast in pursuing justice for New Yorkers, no matter how long it takes.”
DNA evidence recovered from the scene did not initially link to any suspect, but NYPD Detective Ryan Glas resubmitted fingernail scrapings from Sarah’s nails and a dry secretion swab from Sharon’s hand for testing last year.
Atkinson, a convicted felon whose DNA was entered into a state database, matched the samples, authorities said.
“This particular [case] stood out to me given that it was a mother and a daughter,” the cold case investigator told the Daily News.
Police had no witnesses or video to work from, but the killer didn’t force his way into the apartment, which led detectives to believe they were murdered by someone who knew them. Atkinson and his home health aide girlfriend were interviewed after the slayings, and neither was ruled out nor labeled a suspect.
The aide, Celeste Cornelius, 65, insisted to the Daily News last month that Atkinson didn’t do it.
“He’s a good guy. He’s a good guy,” she said. “He didn’t. I know he didn’t. I don’t care nothing about DNA — none of that mess. He didn’t do it.”
Atkinson has three aliases and 28 arrests on his record, and served five stints in state prison. He’s been convicted of charges including drug dealing, attempted robbery and assault, records show. His parole ended in July 2016, three years after he was released from prison after serving two years for a drug sale conviction.
Attempts to reach his lawyer were not immediately successful Thursday.
