Police arrest 47-year-old suspect in murder of 74-year-old New Yorker found bound and gagged

A Brooklyn man has been arrested in the chilling death of an elderly Manhattan woman who was found bound and gagged in her Upper West Side apartment.

Police said Lashawn McKee, 47, of Bergen Street, was charged Saturday afternoon with murder, attempted murder and two counts of burglary in the death of 74-year-old Maria Hernandez.

“I’m innocent,” McKee told reporters as detectives escorted him out of Precinct 20.

“I am innocent and will tell them… look for DNA results at the crime scene. Ask them about it. Ask them. Please!” he said from the back seat of the police car before the detectives drove him away.

Hernandez’s sister, Maria Terrero, found her brother’s battered body around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after she went to check on her.

Hernandez was left lying face down on the bedroom floor of her third-floor apartment on West 83rd Street.

The house was ransacked, according to police and sources. A forensic examination determined that Hernandez died of asphyxia.

According to law enforcement sources, fractures and bruises were found on her body. Earlier Saturday, two police officers stood at the door of the victim’s apartment.

According to the source, McKee was a “temporary employee” of the Hernandez building and may have worked for a program that finds work for ex-convicts who can’t find work elsewhere.

“He’s a very bad guy,” the source added.

Hernandez’s building manager told The Post Friday that someone “used a hammer and crowbar” to break into the basement and steal the security footage.

A young woman, who entered the building with a large bag that appeared to contain clothes, struggled to hold back her tears when asked if she was related to the victim. “It is very, very difficult for me and my family. We’ve already talked to the police and the DA. I don’t want to talk anymore,” the woman said without identifying herself.

Maria Hernandez,

Earlier that day, Maria Hernandez went to an afternoon performance with her sister.


Maria Hernandez

Hernandez’s body was found by her sister on Wednesday evening.


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One resident believes Hernandez spent her last hours on Wednesday attending an afternoon “show with her sister” — possibly a Broadway matinee — before returning to her apartment.

“The upstairs neighbor was having a birthday party and invited her. She [Hernandez] said she was tired and drank soup,” the resident explained.

The resident added that an upstairs neighbor “came down with a piece of cake” for Hernandez around 6 p.m.

Ballamus Kuruma

Ballamoussa Kuruma, the building’s tenant with the 74-year-old woman, recalled that Hernandez was a pretty woman who “got along with everyone.”


Ballamus Kuruma

Kuruma is a 25-year-old student who has lived in this building all his life.


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Prior to the arrest of the suspect, Ballamoussa Kuruma, 25, a student who had lived in the building all his life, fondly recalled that Hernandez “got along with everyone. She was very good.”

He added: “It’s sad. It’s unfortunate. It’s crazy how it went down. I would never have thought, to be honest, that this would happen here – never, never, not here.”

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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