The police at the Bronx apartment where they say a man killed his mother and brother
Police Arrest Bronx Man in Killing of 2
Investigators searching for a missing woman and her two grown sons entered their Bronx apartment through a window yesterday afternoon and found a trail of blood on the floor, the police said. Outside, they found one son — and a grim answer to the mystery: He admitted he had shot his mother and younger brother to death, cut their bodies into pieces and dumped them into the Harlem River at a nearby park, the police said.
Some neighbors recalled seeing the suspect, Lamar J. Platt, 24, maneuvering a blue laundry cart with a big plastic bag several days ago, bumping it down the steps of the apartment building entrance at 1610 University Avenue, also known as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
“It’s really a tragedy — someone as nice as her,” one neighbor, Duane Bowser, 39, said of the mother, Marlene M. Platt, 45. Another neighbor and acquaintance, Sharon Hawes, said: “We knew the mother and younger brother were having problems with the older brother, but nobody knew it was to this extent.”
The police sent patrol boats, helicopters and scuba divers to search the river, but they did not find any remains of Mrs. Platt or her younger son, Nashan A. Platt, 22. The search was halted at nightfall and was expected to resume today.
The motive for the killings and their exact date were unclear, the police said. Ms. Hawes said that Ms. Platt told a mutual friend several days ago that she wanted to get a court order of protection because her older son had been threatening to kill her.
Based on his interrogation by investigators yesterday, Lamar Platt was charged with two counts of murder, the police said.
The police were called into the case by Ms. Platt’s mother, Elveda Wright, 63, of Washington. She expressed concern about her daughter and grandsons, saying that she had been trying to reach them on the telephone since Nov. 18, but was getting no response at their Morris Heights apartment.
She decided to come to New York to find her relatives and met police officers at the apartment, 1-C, yesterday.
There was no answer at the door, which was locked. Around 4 p.m., the police said, officers entered through a window and found the apartment empty. There was a trail of blood between the living room and Lamar Platt’s bedroom. Investigators then went outside and found him on the street nearby, the police said.
Under questioning, the police said, Lamar Platt admitted killing his mother and brother, and cutting their bodies into pieces, the police said. Then he put the pieces in a bag in a cart, wheeled it several blocks to Roberto Clemente State Park, on the banks of the river, and dumped the remains into the water, the police said.
Ms. Hawes, who said she had known the family for more than two decades, described Ms. Platt as a hard-working nurse. “She took care of those boys by herself since they were babies,” Ms. Hawes said. “She was a good, upstanding citizen.”
She added: “Nashan was a really good kid who never got into any trouble.” As for Lamar, she said, “He was a decent kid as well, but it seems like this year he hasn’t been himself.”
“This is really crazy,” she said. “Everybody is in a state of shock.”
SOURCE: NY Times
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