A man has been indicted on five drugging murders in New York City, including that of a fashion designer who worked with Lady Gaga.
Kenwood Allen, 33, is facing allegations that he was part of a widespread campaign of drugging and robberies in the city.
He was indicted for the murder of designer Kathryn Gallagher, the office of the Manhattan District Attorney said on Wednesday.
Gallagher, 35, was found lifeless in her bed by her neighbour in July last year. There were no clear signs of trauma, according to The Daily Beast.
The front door of her apartment was open with the keys still in the lock when she was discovered. The cause of death was unclear until the medical examiner determined that she had died from “acute intoxication” because of a cocktail of drugs.
The indictment shared on Wednesday states that Mr Allen is suspected of three murders in addition to the two killings he was indicted for last year.
Mr Allen is alleged to have worked both alone and with a group of others when he conducted a number of robberies between March and December last year. He allegedly drugged his victims with fentanyl and other opioids to steal their credit cards, watches, phones, and other items. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
He would then proceed to empty their accounts at ATMs and make a number of charges on the victims’ credit cards, according to authorities.
The “drugging, robbery and larceny spree” affected a total of 21 victims, five of which died, according to the Manhattan DA.
The three additional murders Mr Allen was indicted for on Wednesday allegedly took place on 22 July, 23 July, and 6 August last year.
The New York Supreme Court indictment includes 10 counts of murder in the second degree, 13 counts of robbery in the first degree, two counts of robbery in the second degree, 11 counts of assault in the second degree, two counts of attempted robbery in the first degree, three counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree, three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and one count of conspiracy in the fourth degree.
The 10 murder counts, two for each of the five people who died, include one count of acting with depraved indifference to human life, and one count of acting in furtherance of another crime.
“These alleged pernicious drugging and robbery schemes have left far too many families mourning the loss of their loved ones,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “The careful and meticulous work of our prosecutors and the NYPD has led us to charge this individual with a spree of criminal conduct that now includes five murders – four of which took place over a mere 15 days last summer. We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to aggressively uncover and investigate these incidents.”
The Manhattan DA said in a press release that “in most of the incidents, Allen drugged his victims with fentanyl and other opioids in order to steal their credit cards, watches, phones, and other personal identifying information. Many of the victims were later found unconscious on the street. He would then withdraw cash from ATMs and use the stolen credit cards to make purchases and transfer money”.
Vogue wrote that Ms Gallagher was “a hands-on artisan” who was “fiercely independent and sure of her vision”. Her pieces have been worn by Chrissy Teigen, Kourtney Kardashian, Rita Ora, Laverne Cox, and members of the New York Ballet.
“Katie established her own fashion line, Katie Gallagher, in New York City in 2010. Under this label, she completed 26 collections that premiered during New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week,” her obituary said.
“She was unique, beautiful, smart, unabashed, and always wanting. She was hardworking and talented, with so many ideas and plans for future projects,” it added. “We are so proud of who she was and all she achieved in her brief but full and beautiful life.”
Police have said that in one of the robberies, the perpetrators smeared a white powder that included fentanyl under the nose of a victim, and in another case, they offered marijuana also laced with the drug.
They took aim at people active in the nightlife in Lower Manhattan who looked like they were wealthy and waited for them to leave the club before pushing them against a wall to take what they had.
The chief of detectives at the New York Police Department, James Essig, said on Thursday that “they bum-rushed them,” according to The New York Times.
Mr Allen was charged in December with the deaths of Nurbo Shera and Ardijan Berisha. On Wednesday, he was charged with the deaths of Ms Gallagher, 25-year-old student Alexander Rudnitsky, and Sadath Ahmed, 33.
Sean Shirley, 36, is charged in the drugging deaths of Mr Rudnitsky and Mr Ahmed. Facing charges of second-degree murder, robbery, and grand larceny, he was arraigned on Thursday. He also pled not guilty.
Assistant district attorney Brian Rodkey said in court that Mr Allen and Mr Shirley “robbed them, and left them on the street, not caring whether they lived or died,” according to The New York Times.
The Gallagher family said in a statement that they hope the case will make people aware of how fentanyl and other drugs have been used “as weapons against innocent people”.
“The number of victims confirmed at this point is shocking. We are gutted by the magnitude of this collective and senseless loss,” the family said, according to The New York Times.
In a separate case, five men were accused in April of the druggings and killings of people going to gay bars in Manhattan.
