By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A man found having sex with a prostitute in his grandmother's bedroom while her body was stashed in the closet killed her over a $1, according to police testimony Wednesday.
The alleged killer, Larry Davis, 22, gave a statement to police claiming he grew annoyed at 76-year-old Cora Davis when he asked her for $175 and she defiantly handed over only $1 on March 28, in her East Harlem apartment. He said he gave her an angry hug and then shoved her, causing a spinal fracture and blunt impact to the neck, according to testimony.
"Oh my God. I killed my grandmother," Davis said he thought, according to testimony heard Wednesday.
The grandmother's tragic death was only ruled a homicide preliminarily. The official cause of death was still pending.
Cora Davis' body was found on March 30, two days after her death, when concerned family members came to the apartment to find Larry Davis naked in bed with a woman he said was a hooker known as "Christina" or "Keema," testimony revealed.
Davis found the prostitute after a failed search for paid sex on Facebook, police said Davis told them after his arrest. He and two friends took a livery cab first to 155th Street and then to 125th Street where they found a prostitute to take back to the Wagner Houses apartment with them, cops said Davis told them.
He allegedly went on to spend more than 24 hours with "Keema" in his grandmother's apartment, fooling around, drinking and smoking pot — all while her body was stuffed away behind a barricade of boxes and clothes in the East 124th Street apartment.
He fled the apartment shortly before police arrived after concerned family members came to her apartment. He was caught two weeks later after police spotted him at an East Harlem subway station, according to police testimony.
Davis was charged with murder at his arraignment on Saturday but an indictment was necessary to proceed with the case.
The DA's office was able to obtain a judge's ruling to postpone their grand jury indictment deadline and keep Davis in custody while they await the official autopsy results.
The story police say Davis told them different from his first statement, in which he said he heard Cora Davis collapse in the kitchen.
Davis' attorney, Bryan Konoski, argued Cora Davis could have died of natural causes. The elderly woman apparently had various medical issues and had suffered two heart attacks and severe asthma.
Davis was scheduled to appear in Manhattan Supreme Court on June 1.
