Angelo MacDonald representing alleged serial killer in Mount Vernon murder case
Angelo MacDonald, experienced trial attorney at Pappalardo & Pappalardo, will be representing Lucius Crawford, a 60-year-old Mount Vernon resident who has been charged in the Mount Vernon City Court with the murder of 42-year-old Tanya Simmons.
Crawford has also been indicated in the 1993 murder of 23-year-old Learonda Shealy in Yonkers, and the 1993 murder of 38-year-old Nella West in the Bronx, with the press already calling Crawford a “serial killer.”
Angelo MacDonald is a seasoned trial attorney who has tried more than 60 homicide cases as both an Assistant District Attorney in Bronx County and as a defense attorney. MacDonald is a member of Westchester County’s 18-b Assigned Counsel Homicide Panel, and on Thursday, December 6, he accepted the assignment to represent Crawford before the Honorable Mark A. Gross in the Mount Vernon City Court.
According to reports, at approximately 1:05 p.m. on Tuesday, December 4, detectives from the Bronx, along with a New York City parole officer, arrived at Crawford’s residence on Beekman Avenue in Mount Vernon to investigate the 1993 cold case. Crawford is said to not have been home at the time, but police entered the apartment and discovered the body of Tanya Simmons. Allegedly, his parole tracking ankle bracelet had been removed and found at the scene.
Crawford was arrested approximately three hours later in Mount Vernon and charged with Murder in the Second Degree in connection with Simmons’ death. Murder in the Second Degree is a class A-I felony and for prior violent felony offenders could carry a possible life sentence. It is alleged that while in custody, Crawford implicated himself in not only the Mount Vernon murder, but also the Yonkers and Bronx cold cases.
Reports indicate that Crawford has a criminal history dating back to 1973 involving various assaults on women in both New York and South Carolina, and that Crawford has spent nearly 30 years in custody. There are also reports of an investigation by the Suffolk County Police Department into any connection between Crawford and the Giglo Beach murders on Long Island. Crawford was released on parole in 2008 after spending 13 years in prison for the attempted murder of a 31-year-old Westchester woman in 1994.