Man who allegedly killed three Jamaicans in NY now indicted for murder
The man accused of killing three Jamaicans in New York in June of this year was arraigned before the Queens Supreme Court on murder charges on Monday.
Travis Blake, 29, was indicted by a Queens grand jury on murder charges and other crimes in the alleged killing of his girlfriend and her family in June.
He was arraigned before Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant on a six-count indictment charging him with murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
According to the indictment, during the early morning hours of June 24, police responded to a 911 call at the defendant’s residence and found three victims inside the home – 55-year-old Karlene Barnett, her 36-year-old son Dervon Brightly and her 22-year-old niece Vashawnna Malcolm, a nursing student at the University of Technology in Jamaica who had been only in the US for 10 days visiting family. All three of them had been deceased for approximately two days.
Blake is believed to be the boyfriend of Barnett.
According to the charges, video surveillance footage showing the entry points of the house on June 22 showed Blake in the backyard around 2:50 am, apparently bleeding from a hand injury and using a hammer to drive a nail into a beam of wood.
The defendant reportedly then entered the house where one of the victims, Brightly had previously entered approximately 30 minutes earlier. Hours later, around 7:30 pm, Barnett entered the residence and never exited again, according to the charges.
It is further alleged that on June 24, an alleged witness who also lives in the residence noticed an odour from Malcolm’s bedroom before discovering her body after opening the door.
The witness reportedly alerted the police and, upon their arrival on the scene, detectives found Malcolm dead in her second-floor bedroom, undressed from the waist down, and bound with duct tape with several apparent puncture wounds to her chest, according to the indictment.
During a search of the home, the detectives reportedly gained entrance to a locked basement door and followed a trail of blood to a bedroom where Barnett was found with apparent head trauma injuries and several puncture wounds to her body. The cops also discovered, according to the charges, Brightly in the basement with head trauma injuries and puncture wounds on his body.
According to the charges, police recovered several bloodstained items including a hammer, screwdriver and a beam of wood with a nail embedded in it. Items including a bloodstained bucket, bloodstained bottles of household cleaner and a mop were also reportedly found. Police recovered the cellphone, passport and valuables of the defendant Blake at the house.
Travis was reportedly tracked down by the NYPD’s Regional Task Force in Bar Harbor, Maine, on June 30 and extradited back to Queens
Blake was ordered to return to court on October 18, and faces up to a life in prison if convicted.