Neighbors fear suspected killer may have returned to Longwood building
The landlord told News 12 that Reginald Copland was discovered with a knife lodged in his chest inside his first-floor apartment at 1006 Longfellow Ave.
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Residents of a Longwood apartment building are on edge after police identified and began searching for the roommate of a 64-year-old man who was found stabbed to death inside his apartment on June 3rd.
The landlord told News 12 that Reginald Copland was discovered with a knife lodged in his chest inside his first-floor apartment at 1006 Longfellow Ave. The suspect, identified by neighbors as Copland’s roommate, remains at large.
Now, neighbors tell News 12 they are terrified after hearing unexplained noises coming from both the basement and the victim’s sealed apartment in recent days, even after video evidence shows the suspect entering the Whitlock Avenue train station approximately six minutes after the gruesome discovery.
Diva Martinez reported hearing footsteps, doors opening and closing and even the apartment’s air conditioner running — despite police securing the unit as part of their investigation.
“There’s been moments when I feel something behind me, and I think it’s my kid, but nothing’s there,” said resident Diva.
Martinez and her 2-year-old son live on the same floor as Copland’s apartment. She says she has been staying with family and refuses to spend nights in the building until an arrest is made.
The building also has a troubling history. In 2018, 25-year-old Lisa Marie Velasquez was murdered and dismembered inside the same apartment that Martinez now calls home.
Martinez says she is actively searching for a new place to live and will not bring her child back to the apartment until police locate the suspect.
Anyone with information about the suspect’s whereabouts is urged to contact the NYPD.
