Police have arrested the grandson of a woman whose bludgeoned body was found wrapped in a bedsheet outside a Brooklyn home Thursday, next to a bloody 35-pound dumbbell and knife, police say.
The body of 70-year-old Joyce Spears was found in front of a home on Union Street in Crown Heights at about 1:45 a.m. Thursday, police said.
Responding officers found the dumbbell and knife outside the apartment window, then discovered a blood trail leading to the apartment on the third-floor landing of the building, police sources said.
When police tried to reach the grandson inside the apartment, he refused to let them in. Emergency Services Unit was called in and police forced their way in; neighbors say they heard a drill as officers tried to get into the apartment.
They finally got in after 6 a.m. and found blood inside the apartment, sources said.
The suspect, 32-year-old Barry James, was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder. He was being questioned inside the 71th Precinct stationhouse Thursday night.
Police have video of a man taking the body out of the building, sources said. A motive wasn't immediately clear.
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James has been arrested 12 times in the past, sources say.
