BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Police identified a third suspect in a violent Bed-Stuy home invasion that left an elderly man dead earlier this month, a top NYPD official said Friday.
Howard Morris, 43, of Brooklyn, was caught on surveillance video carrying a lockbox containing $5,000 that police believe was taken during the crime, according to the NYPD. He is still at large.
Morris and Dwayne Blackwood, 27, who was arrested Oct. 20, were believed to have tied up 91-year-old Waldiman Thompson and placed a bag over his head, then tied up his 100-year-old wife Ethlin Thompson, in their Decatur Street home Oct. 11, police said.
Waldiman Thompson, who suffered from a heart condition, died as a result of the trauma.
The crime was planned, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, by Suzette Troutman, 45, a Canarsie woman who had worked for the couple as a health aide, according to prosecutors. Troutman was booked Monday.
“We believe [Morris] was brought into this by Suzette Troutman, who set this entire thing up,” he said.
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Troutman and Blackwood, 27, who is Troutman's nephew, have been charged with second-degree murder, assault, and burglary.
Dwayne Blackwood, 27, is led out of the 81st Precinct Oct. 20 after being charged with the murder of Waldiman Thompson (DNAinfo/Noah Hurowitz)
Troutman, who neighbors said has at least two children, was seen driving the getaway with a small child with her, according to a criminal complaint.
Police later released a surveillance image of Morris walking away from the scene of the crime with the lockbox, according to Boyce.
The robbery, which took place just after 3:30 p.m. Oct. 11, shocked neighbors and prompted calls for justice from community leaders.
Ethlin Thompson leaves the Hanson Place Seventh Day Adventist Church Oct. 20 following the funeral service for her late husband, Waldiman Thompson. (DNAinfo/Noah Hurowitz)
Waldiman Thompson, who was buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery on Oct. 20, was remembered by family members as a hard worker who always strove to provide for his four children and always pushed them to read and pursue education.
“He really had love, and concern, and compassion for people,” his son Delroy Thompson said at a funeral service held at the Hanson Place Seventh Day Adventist Church in Fort Greene, where the couple worshipped.