Neighbors of mother and daughter killed in New York in 1994 welcome the arrest of Larry Atkinson.

Neighbors of a Manhattan mother and daughter who were found strangled in their apartment nearly three decades ago breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday after police finally made an arrest in an unsolved murder case.

“I’m glad they found him,” one longtime tenant of the Grant Houses public housing complex in Harlem told The Post to suspect Larry Atkinson, who was charged with the murders on Monday after DNA evidence allegedly linked him to the horrific crime.

Atkinson, a former prisoner, met with a home health assistant who discovered the victims, 57-year-old Sarah Roberts and her 25-year-old special needs daughter Sharon, dead in their sixth-floor apartment on February 20, 1994.

“I was scared when I found out about this,” said the tenant, who has lived in the house since 1981 and was friends with the young victim. “There were a lot of policemen on the floor. People were afraid.

“I didn’t think it would be resolved because it happened so long ago, but they did,” she added.

“The secret is solved, and it’s very good.”

However, it took about 28 years for police officers to finally arrest the suspect after an NYPD detective retested DNA found at the scene, including from cigarette butts and nail clippings.

Police found no evidence of forced entry after the mother and daughter’s housekeeper made the gruesome discovery and called 911.

Sarah Roberts was found on her bed with her daughter lying on the floor with a “woolen stocking wrapped around her neck,” police said in 1994. According to police, a VCR and several hundred dollars in cash were stolen from her.

Madis Crowell, 72, who has lived in the home since 1978, recalls hearing voices in the Roberts’ apartment, which is directly upstairs from hers.

“I think about it all the time,” Crowell said. “It bothered me because I live right below them. I saw her go out and come in with her daughter. They were always together.

“But it’s good that he was caught,” she said. “It will bring some form of family closure. Now they know who did it, although it won’t bring them back.

“People like him have no conscience,” Crowell added. “He has no feelings at all.”

Atkinson, 64, was apprehended by the NYPD Investigations Unit in the Bronx around 7:30 a.m. in the case of Sarah and Sharon’s death by strangulation nearly three decades ago, police said. He is charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

Atkinson dated a medical assistant, Celeste Cornelius, who cared for Sharon Roberts, who was developmentally disabled and still lives with the accused murderer.

Cornelius stood next to her man on Monday.

“I know he didn’t do it,” she said outside their Harlem apartment. “I don’t want you to misquote me, but I know he didn’t. I don’t care about the DNA – this whole mess. He didn’t do it.”

One 40-year-old resident of the building, who asked to be identified only as Taylor, recalled the horror that gripped the building after the cops made the gruesome discovery.

“No one knew who did it or why,” Taylor said. “We talked about this for a long time.

“I’m happy they caught him,” he said. – She was a very nice lady.

Atkinson, who is battling cancer, has been hospitalized since his arrest. On Tuesday, he was awaiting arraignment.