A 60-year-old man suspected of killing three women in Yonkers, the Bronx and Mount Vernon appeared in court Monday on the most recent case, which will be transferred to a grand jury.
Lucius Crawford of Mount Vernon is charged with murdering Tanya Simmons, who was found stabbed to death last week in Crawford's apartment. A hearing is scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Detectives looking to ask Crawford about earlier cases discovered Simmons' body in his bed underneath the covers. Crawford has been linked to a pair of 1993 killings in the Bronx and Yonkers, police say.
Crawford has not been charged in those cases. But police said he confessed to all three killings during questioning. He denied that on Friday, telling The Journal News he had nothing to do with the 1993 cases and said he didn't even know the women who died.
"One stabbing and they blame me for everything," Crawford said at the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla.
On Monday, his lawyer, Angelo MacDonald, waived Crawford's right to a felony hearing on the Simmons case and Mount Vernon City Judge Helen Blackwood said the case would be sent to a grand jury in White Plains.
He has pleaded not guilty to the Simmons killing.
Crawford previously served 13 years in prison for attempted murder after stabbing a 31-year-old co-worker who allegedly refused to date him. He was paroled in February 2008 and has lived in the Beekman Avenue apartment for more than a year.
Local
Crawford moved to Westchester in 1991 after his release from a South Carolina prison, where he'd served two separate terms totaling 17 years for stabbing at least seven women.
Four were attacked in a five-day spree. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 28. None were fatal.
