The following article includes descriptions of violence and physical harm. Please read with caution. An 88-year-old former Brooklyn resident will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole after being sentenced this past Wednesday for the murder and dismemberment of Susan Leyden. This marks the third time Harvey Marcelin has been convicted of killing a woman over the course of the last six decades. According to The Gothamist, a jury convicted Marcelin last month of first-degree murder, evidence tampering, and concealing a human corpse. The sentencing judge, Justice Danny Chun, told the defendant, “The cold fact is, every time you were released, you killed someone else, which leads this court to believe that, regardless of your age, if you were ever paroled again, I have no doubt that you would kill again” The NY Daily News reported that prosecutors established that on February 27, 2022, 68-year-old Susan Leyden entered Marcelin’s apartment in East New York and never left alive. A few days later, an e-bike rider discovered her headless and limbless torso inside a rolling bag on a Brooklyn street. Marcelin reportedly bludgeoned her to death and used a reciprocal saw from Home Depot to dismember her body. Marcelin claimed that he was framed Per reports, law enforcement reportedly found additional remains later, including her head and limbs, inside the apartment, while other parts of the victim were found in a garbage can. The prosecutors also provided surveillance footage from a local store to the court. It showed Marcelin moving around on his motorized scooter while, according to prosecutors, part of the victim’s left leg was stashed in the chair. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office also highlighted in a statement that surveillance footage from a Manhattan Home Depot showed Marcelin purchasing a saw and cleaning supplies around the time Leyden was reported missing. SENTENCING: Serial killer Harvey Marcelin, 88, has been sentenced to life without parole for the murder and dismemberment of a 68-year-old woman in 2022. #News12 #Brooklyn #SerialKillerhttps://t.co/MDY8riVEzU— News12BK (@News12BK) June 11, 2026 Per ABC 7, in 1963, Marcelin was sentenced to life in prison for the shooting death of his girlfriend. After sentencing laws shifted, he was released on parole in 1984. Shortly after regaining his freedom, he killed another woman, Anna Laura Serrera Miranda, and dumped her remains near Central Park. During the investigation of that second murder, then-officer Robert Boyce recalled the moment police found the evidence. He stated, “We see the foot coming out of the bag, so we knew we had something bad here.” Reports indicate that Marcelin was eventually released again after spending over 30 years behind bars. During a June 25, 2019, parole hearing, he presented himself as a changed man. He told the board he had stopped using drugs and was working with organizations like the Fortune Society to prepare for life outside. He even promised to volunteer at soup kitchens. When a commissioner noted his aggressive history, Marcelin claimed he was “fully ashamed of that” and insisted he was “no longer that person.” He went as far as to say, “I give you my word, I will never re-offend.” Elderly serial killer Harvey Marcelin gets life without parole, as judge fears he’d ‘kill again’ https://t.co/NZpPDtmafd— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) June 10, 2026 Assistant District Attorney Leila Rosini, who pushed for the life sentence, noted during the proceedings that every time Marcelin faced a parole board, he claimed to have learned his lesson. “It is clear that all of those statements were fake,” she said. She argued that there was no hope for rehabilitation for the defendant, regardless of his advanced age. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez echoed this sentiment, stating in a release that “the brutality of this shocking crime is almost beyond words.” He added, “He must be locked away, and today’s sentence ensures that he will never be able to hurt anyone else again.” During his sentencing, Marcelin appeared in a wheelchair, wearing a beanie and glasses. Per the NY Daily News, he attempted to deflect blame, claiming that an associate who was high on drugs actually killed Leyden. He told the judge, “I sincerely wish I could reassemble the embodiment of my Susan Carol Leyden, whom I was crazy over, and whom I witnessed murdered by an evil crackhead, that the prosecutor Rosini unlawfully manipulated, and framed me and railroaded me through a kangaroo court using terrorist tactics against the jury.” His defense attorney declined to comment following the sentencing. Marcelin is far from the only elder who has been convicted of murder. In Wisconsin, a woman reported her 76-year-old father for a cold case, only for police to find he was a serial killer. In Missouri, an older couple described as “good neighbors” was arrested for two separate murders.