An elderly woman was found dead in her home in Brooklyn with a phone cord around her neck, cops said Monday. The 78-year-old victim, identified as Juanita Caballero, was found by her son lying on the floor with the phone cord wrapped around her neck on Jan. 15.

Juanita Caballero was living in Woodson Houses apartment on Powell Street near Dumont Avenue, according to authorities.

Police said Juanita Caballero was already unconscious and unresponsive when authorities arrived. Thus, she was pronounced dead on the scene, according to a New York Post report.

Police confirmed that her death was ruled a homicide by asphyxiation.

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Suspect on Juanita Caballero's Death

Caballero's death did not seem like a coincidence to the Carter G. Woodson senior housing project's residents.

It was not the first death that occurred in the complex since 2015. According to a We Are Mitu report, Caballero's death was the third suspicious death to be reported in the area.

An 82-year-old woman named Myrtle McKinney was found dead in her apartment at the housing complex in 2015. Authorities initially thought that she died of natural causes.

However, it was shown in her autopsy report that there was a stab wound in her neck, which led law enforcement officials to believe that there might be foul play.

In 2019, 83-year-old Jacolia James' body was found in her apartment by her grandson. It was apparent that James did not die of natural causes as authorities showed that she had injuries to her face and neck, which they deemed suspicious.

Officials eventually determined that the elderly woman was strangled and stomped to death. 

Evidence and witness accounts then led police to identify 66-year-old Kevin Gavin, the person allegedly responsible for the three murders of the elderlies that lived in the complex.

Gavin was a fellow resident of the housing project. Other residents described Gavin as someone you could depend on to do you a favor.

"I am confident the defendant took advantage of his relationship with these women, was allowed into their homes, and did unspeakable acts of violence against them," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a report.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said that Gavin managed to gain the trust of these three elderly women by being a friendly neighbor who helped them out around their homes and ran errands for them

Harrison believed that disputes over money were the motive for his killings, ABC 7 reported. Meanwhile, the families of the victims are still distraught.

Some elected officials, including the victims' relatives, are accusing the NYPD of negligence and racism, claiming that the investigation was not taken as seriously as it should have been after the first murder.

Juanita Caballero's son said that he was heartbroken as he saw his mother brutally murdered. McKinney's son, Mark Lewis, said that he was relieved that there was an arrest, and "it's over five years later."

Detectives reportedly have been eyeing Gavin for a long time, but he was never charged due to lack of evidence. Gavin is now facing three counts of second-degree murder.

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