After decades, justice has been served in the 1994 Morningside Heights double homicide. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the sentencing of Larry Atkinson, 67, for the murder of Sarah Roberts, 57, and her daughter Sharon, 26. In a grueling reminder of the crime’s longevity, it took nearly 30 years and advances in DNA technology to secure Atkinson’s conviction. He has now been sentenced to 40 years-to-life, as reported by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
According to the D.A.’s statement, on the night of February 20, 1994, Sarah and Sharon were found dead in their apartment within NYCHA’s Grant Houses by a home attendant connected to Atkinson. Both were victims of ligature strangulation, with Sharon tragically found with the tube from her mother’s oxygen tank, and a pair of leggings tied around her neck. Despite initial efforts, the case remained unsolved for almost three decades until new DNA testing linked Atkinson to the crime scene in 2022.
“Thirty years after strangling Sarah Roberts and her daughter Sharon, Larry Atkinson stands convicted by a jury of two counts of murder and will serve decades in prison,” said Bragg in a sober reflection on the case’s conclusion. The additional DNA testing that led to Atkinson’s arrest was not available at the time of the murders, illustrating the persistence of law enforcement in pursuing cold cases and the evolution of forensic science, as per the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office…