Brooklyn handyman pleads guilty to murdering three elderly neighbors in apartment complex

A Brownsville apartment complex meant for older tenants became the setting for a years-long breach of trust. Kevin Gavin, 71, pleaded guilty Friday to murdering three elderly women in the New York City Housing Authority’s Carter G. Woodson Houses, where he lived and picked up odd jobs from residents for money.

Gavin admitted to one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Ann Riviezzo. He is due to be sentenced on May 20, 2026, under a promised term of 30 years to life in prison, a deal that will keep him incarcerated for the rest of his life.

The victims were Myrtle McKinney, 82; Jacolia James, 83; and Juanita Caballero, 78. Prosecutors said Gavin fatally stabbed McKinney on or about November 8, 2015, stomped on James’s neck and chest on or about April 30, 2019, and strangled Caballero with a phone cord on or about January 14, 2021. They said he used Caballero’s debit card at multiple locations after her death, and surveillance video captured the card use.

The killings took place inside the women’s apartments in the Carter G. Woodson Houses in Brownsville, a complex with about 450 elderly residents that was left frightened by the violence. The case exposed how a man with routine access for maintenance work and errands could move through a senior building repeatedly, turning ordinary trust into a deadly vulnerability.

Gavin was arrested on January 21, 2021, by the NYPD Brooklyn North Homicide Unit and the 73rd Precinct. Prosecutors said forensic evidence tied him to the crimes, including DNA in James’s case, and that he later confessed to all three murders.

District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the crimes shocked the conscience and exploited vulnerable neighbors who trusted Gavin. The pattern prosecutors described showed how the building’s informal dependence on a handyman could become a security failure, with an older tenant’s access to apartments never treated as the danger it was.

Earlier court reporting said authorities initially believed McKinney’s 2015 death was from natural causes before a stab wound was later discovered. That missed warning sign, followed by two more killings inside the same senior housing complex, left families waiting years for justice and raised stark questions about how long Gavin’s access went unchecked.