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Man Arrested After Grandmother Found Dead Outside in Bloody Sheet: Sources

By  Rachel Holliday Smith and Aidan Gardiner | March 24, 2017 7:45am | Updated on March 24, 2017 2:59pm

 Joyce Spears, 70, was found dead near piles of trash outside 1635 Union St., near Troy Avenue, police and witnesses said.
Joyce Spears, 70, was found dead near piles of trash outside 1635 Union St., near Troy Avenue, police and witnesses said.
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DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith

CROWN HEIGHTS — A man was arrested for killing his 70-year-old grandmother and leaving her body wrapped up with her dead cat in a bloody sheet near piles of trash outside their Union Street building Thursday, sources said.

Barry James, 32, will face charges of murder in the second degree for the death of his grandmother, Joyce Spears, who was found dead outside 1635 Union St. at about 1:46 a.m. Thursday morning, police said.

Barry James, 32, dumped Joyce Spears' cut up body outside 1635 Union St., where they shared a third-floor apartment, police and witnesses said. Police sources said investigators believe Spears was bludgeoned with a 35-pound dumbbell.

Police took James in for questioning from the scene, sources said. He was arrested late Thursday and is expected to be arraigned Friday.

Neighbors told DNAinfo New York that Spears was a quiet, hard-working woman who kept to herself. They recalled James as an erratic man who often talked to himself.

Police sources said James has a history of mental illness and prosecutors said he has been arrested twice in the past month.

On February 28, James was arrested for entering the subway without paying by walking through an exit gate at Jay Street, court documents show. He was also facing assault, harassment and menacing charges for a March 10 assault on Schenectady Avenue near Bergen Street. In that case, a judge released James from custody after his arraignment, court records show.