Second suspect, who once did time for murder, nabbed in robbery slay of beloved Manhattan great-grandmother
A second suspect — who once served 27 years for murder — has been nabbed in the robbery slaying of a beloved great-grandmother found bound and strangled in her Upper West Side apartment, police said Wednesday.
Homeless suspect Terrence Moore is facing burglary and murder charges for the Jan. 18 killing of 74-year-old Maria Hernandez. Lashawn Mackey, a former superintendent of the building, was arrested Saturday on the same charges.
Using footage from neighborhood surveillance cameras, detectives were able to track Moore from Hernandez’s building on W. 83rd St. near Columbus Ave. all the way to a homeless shelter in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where he was arrested without incident Tuesday.
Moore was convicted of murder, attempted robbery and weapons possession in 1990, according to court records. He was paroled in 2017 but went on to be arrested later that year on four counts of forcible touching, cops said.
Police believe Moore, 53, helped Mackey, 47, break into Hernandez’s apartment. When she returned home after a Broadway matinee and early dinner with her younger sister Maria Tirredo, the two allegedly surprised her in her apartment, and bound and strangled her as they ransacked her home for valuables.
Mackey was a part-time porter in the building and had a key to Hernandez’s apartment, a police source said. The landlord takes part in a work-release program where ex-cons are hired to clean and repair the building.
It was not immediately clear if anything had been taken, cops said.
Hernandez’s sister discovered her sibling dead with her hands and feet bound together and a gag shoved in her mouth, police said. The beloved Dominican immigrant had three daughters, eight grandkids and a 1-year-old great-grandchild, relatives said.
“She was an excellent human being, a wonderful lady,” Tirredo, told the Daily News on Saturday. “She’s kind, loving, caring. Everything you can imagine a nice person would be.”
Tirredo found her sister dead after her niece called to say she couldn’t get Hernandez on the phone.
Cops began looking for Moore after they recovered surveillance footage of Mackey with another man around the time of the murder, police sources said.
Police released images of Moore on Monday as they asked the public for help in tracking him down.
When questioned, Moore admitted to being in the building, but claimed that he did not go into Hernandez’s apartment. His arraignment was pending in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday.
Mackey was held without bail after he was arraigned Sunday. Prosecutors claimed the murder was premeditated, citing a break-in at the current superintendent’s basement office prior to the murder. A DVR that would have recorded security footage inside the building was the only thing stolen, prosecutors said.
Mackey worked in the building sometime after serving a sentence for a 1999 assault and completing parole, according to Mackey’s attorney with the New York County Defender Services.
