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Lucius Crawford, 60, accused of stabbing a Mount Vernon woman to death Tuesday, confessed to two other slayings, including the killing of Learonda Shealy, 23, of Yonkers nearly a decade ago, Yonkers police said. Shealy was stabbed and left in the stairwell of 57 Walsh Road in September 1993.
“After consultation with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Crawford will be charged in the near future in relation to the death of Learonda Shealy,” Yonkers police said in a statement.
Crawford, who has a long history of violence against women and served time for stabbing a White Plains woman in 1994, was arrested Tuesday night after Mount Vernon police said he stabbed a 42-year-old woman nine times at his home at 7 Beekman Ave. in Mount Vernon. The woman died, and Crawford was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Mount Vernon City Court on a charge of second-degree murder in that case, police said.
In a news conference Wednesday, Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Carl Bell said, "This is probably the closest we've had to a serial killer in Mount Vernon."
Following his arrest, Crawford was questioned by Yonkers police, who said he confessed to the cold-case killing of Shealy and a Bronx woman in 1993.
Crawford has also served time in a South Carolina prison for stabbing nine women, police said.
Crawford was previously arrested in Yonkers in 1994 for the attempted murder of a female. He was convicted in that case and sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison. Crawford was subsequently released and has been on parole since February 2008.
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