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Slain Correction Officer Was Threatened Twice by Her Ex, Sources Say

By Murray Weiss | December 14, 2016 7:14am
 Corrections officer Alastasia Bryan was fatally shot in the head and torso, police said.
Corrections officer Alastasia Bryan was fatally shot in the head and torso, police said.
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Family handout and DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

BROOKLYN — A city correction officer’s ex-boyfriend, who is a person of interest sought in her murder, twice threatened to kill her before she was shot while sitting in her car near her Mill Basin home less than two weeks ago, DNAinfo New York has learned.

Alastasia Bryan’s former beau, Keon Richmond, 34, initially threatened to hurt her in May, sources say.

In a telephone call May 24, Richmond said he was staking out Bryan's mother’s home in East New York. Later that day when Bryan was driving on Oriental Boulevard in Manhattan Beach, he tried to run her off the road, according to police reports and sources.

He telephoned her again May 26 and warned the 25-year-old Bryan that he had people watching her, and would “shoot up her house” if another guy was spotted with her, sources added.

According to the sources, Bryan contacted police May 26 and reported the two incidents.

Three days later, police picked up Richmond and charged him with reckless endangerment, but the case was later closed and sealed for undisclosed reasons.

Richmond, who has 26 previous arrests, has a history of terrorizing other girlfriends — and despite being arrested, he remained out on bail.

Last Feb. 5, another ex-girlfriend called police, complaining Richmond broke into her Jamaica, Queens, apartment and ripped up her clothing.

When she confronted the 5-foot, 10-inch tall, 210-pound Richmond, she said he told her: "I cut up your clothes and poured bleach on it," according to court records.

Six months later, she called police again, saying that Richmond broke into her home while she was away for a couple of days, "ransacked" it and "cut apart" her couch, smashed her television, cut the cords to her air conditioner and fireplace, and stole her headboard and two nightstands. 

According to a criminal complaint, building surveillance video captured Richmond leaving the building with her belongings.

The next day, Richmond allegedly telephoned her and threatened her again.

"If I get arrested, you better pray," he allegedly said, according to court records.

Despite the threats, Richmond remained on the loose.

Eight days later, he allegedly set fire to another unidentified ex-girlfriend's car Oct. 23, torching her 2013 Nissan Maxima in front of 514 Fountain Ave. in East New York at around 3:30 a.m.

On Nov. 2, Richmond was finally grabbed by police officer Michael Desetto, of the NYPD's Warrant Squad, who spotted him in the parking lot of Resorts World Casino on Rockaway Boulevard in Queens.

According to court records, Richmond had a set of keys in his pocket belonging to Bryan and her 2010 BMW, which she had reported stolen May 29.

 An ex-boyfriend of slain correction officer Alastasia Bryan wanted as a
An ex-boyfriend of slain correction officer Alastasia Bryan wanted as a "person of interest" in her assassination Dec. 4.
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NYPD

Desetto scoured the parking lot and found the missing BMW with 51 forged credit cards in it.

"What are you going to do with my car," Richmond asked Desetto.

Desetto contacted Bryan, who confirmed the vehicle was hers, and it was taken by the police.

Richmond, meanwhile, was arraigned the following day in Queens Criminal Court.

Prosecutors have requested $20,000 for each alleged crime, and that his Trinidad passport be surrendered, but Judge Peter Vallone ordered him held on $1,000 cash bail, which Richmond posted and was released.

He was not charged with the Oct. 23 car arson in Brooklyn, according to court records and officials.

A month later, Bryan was executed as she was sitting in her new 2016 Nissan Infiniti outside her home on East 73rd Street and Avenue L around 9:19 p.m. when a hooded gunman raced up to the driver's side, firing five times at point-blank range.

Bryan was hit five times in the head and torso, and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

“On the Inside” reported Monday that Bryan had recently broken up with Richmond, and she had been demanding the return of her BMW, which "really pissed" off Richmond, according to a source.

Although it is not clear how Bryan met Richmond, their relationship predated her job with the city's correction department, which began in early November.

The NYPD has a massive search underway for Richmond, whose name they have not formally released, and at least one other possible suspect in her slaying.

Last Wednesday, the NYPD  released surveillance footage of the murder that showed the moment when Bryan was murdered. The accomplices captured in the video were wearing dark-colored clothing and fled in a gold or tan four-door Hyundai Elantra.

Separately, the NYPD on Friday requested media attention in the Oct. 23 torching of the Maxima, and provided Richmond's identity in that case, after he was identified as a suspect in that arson.

Richmond is due back in Queens court Jan. 27.

In the meantime, anyone with information about Bryan's killing or Richmond's whereabouts is asked to the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential, police say.