Larry Atkinson is arrested in connection with a death in 1994. Ex-con charged in 1994 cold-case slaying of NYC mom and daughter.
An ex-convict Larry Atkinson who served many terms in state prison was charged with murder on Monday in the brutal 1994 cold-case killing of a Harlem mother and her daughter with special needs.
Police said Larry Atkinson, 64, was arrested for the nearly three-decades-old strangulation killings of Sarah Roberts, 57, and her 25-year-old daughter, Sharon, by the NYPD Bronx Cold Case Squad around 7:30 a.m.
On February 20, 1994, the mother and daughter were discovered in their unit in the Grant Houses public housing complex. However, the case remained unresolved until recently.
Larry Atkinson Arrested In Connection With A Death In 1994
According to police sources, detectives analyzed DNA evidence from the 28-year-old crime scene, including from cigarette butts and fingernail clippings, to link the murders to the accused culprit.
According to murder enforcement authorities, Atkinson was dating the home health aide who looked after developmentally challenged Sharon Roberts and now resides with her.
On Monday, the assistant, Celeste Cornelius, supported her husband. The DNA doesn’t interest me; none of that nonsense. He wasn’t the culprit.
When the home attendant made the horrifying discovery and dialed 911, police did not find any signs of forced entry in the sixth-floor flat, The Post reported at the time.
In 1994, police reported that while Sarah Roberts was found on her bed, her daughter was discovered lying on the ground with “a woolen stocking wrapped around her neck.”
A tape video recorder and several hundred dollars in cash, according to the police, were taken. Sarah Roberts, according to her neighbors, had emphysema.
Who Are The Victims Sharon And Sarah Roberts?
In relation to the deaths of Sarah Roberts, 57, and Sharon Roberts, 27, Atkinson was charged.
On the evening of February 20, 1994, the mother and daughter were discovered strangled in their Grant House flat.
They were discovered unconscious in a bedroom by NYPD cops who had responded to a 911 call at their apartment on West 125th Street.
The medical examiner found that the daughter’s oxygen machine tubing had been used to strangle both of them.
According to 1010 WINS, the NYPD cold case unit used DNA evidence to connect Atkinson to the murders.
Fingernail scrapings and biological evidence discovered in one of the victims’ hands were among the evidence.
In 1994, DNA evidence was tested, but no one’s DNA was found to match.
Details on Larry Atkinson Arrested Case
Their remains were discovered, according to a 1994 story from WPIX. When the attendant came, the door was unlocked and there were no indications of a break-in.
The mother had emphysema, according to the authorities at the time. When the daughter’s body was discovered, a woolen stocking was tied around her neck.
According to sources, Atkinson was dating the housekeeper who discovered the bodies, according to WPIX. The home attendant was cleared at the time and was not viewed as a suspect.
After many years had passed, cold case investigators once more compared DNA recovered from the crime site to those in national databases and found a match to Atkinson.
Atkinson is a former criminal with a history of 13 arrests. State records show that he was convicted five times and served time under various identities.
He was detained on Monday while residing in a house in Manhattan, New York.
After being arrested, he informed the authorities that he wasn’t feeling well and was transported to the hospital.
Atkinson will be put on trial as soon as it’s medically safe to do so on two counts of murder.