Surveillance footage captured a teenage boy casually walking out of an apartment in Harlem after allegedly stabbing his 16-year-old girlfriend in the apartment they shared.
The chilling footage, taken by cameras in a nearby deli, where the couple had an argument a few hours before the deadly stabbing, shows 18-year-old Zyaire Crumbley wearing all-black clothes and walking out of the apartment building located on Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard in New York City.
Crumbley, wearing a balaclava over his head, can be seen walking casually off as if nothing had happened and, at some point, looking back but seemingly unbothered by what he had just done before the footage ends.
Police arrested the teenager on Monday and accused him of killing his girlfriend, 16-year-old Saniyah Lawrence. Crumbley allegedly stabbed Lawrence in the neck during a heated fight in their apartment at around 5:40 pm on Sunday, December 11.
The New York City Police Department released a mugshot of the suspect, which earned him the nickname “baby-faced killer” because of his youthful face. Police also said that the 18-year-old had numerous run-ins with the police, with six robberies under his belt.
The victim’s maternal grandmother, 51-year-old Denise Jackson, was distraught after hearing the tragic news. She was disappointed that the attacker was still free, adding that she knew him well and had spoken to him many times on the phone.
The grandmother said that she wished the police would find Crumbley and put him in prison. She hoped it would be quick because his face was plastered all over the news.
It is unclear what started the argument that day. A neighbor who lived on the same floor as the couple said Lawrence and Crumbley moved into the unit about six months ago, and the couple spent more days fighting than living peacefully. She said that the two had been fighting almost every day since they moved in, and the argument became particularly heated on Sunday.
The neighbor, who did not want to be identified, is a graduate student, and she said that noise coming from the house always sounded as if someone was yelling and screaming and someone was running. The house was always filled with a lot of shouting and heavy objects being thrown around. However, the neighbors were used to the sound of the couple always fighting.
According to the neighbor, the fighting on Sunday escalated, and it got so bad that she decided to step out and get something to eat, to get away from the nerve-wracking scene. She told the police that she couldn’t hear what the couple was yelling, but could hear the noise through the walls.
A clerk at the convenience store that took the video told reporters that the couple had gone there about eight hours before the incident. Crumbley yelled at Lawrence, but the clerk was not paying attention to what they were saying.
Lawrence’s grandmother said she couldn’t understand why Crumbley would want to murder Lawrence because she was very lovable. She couldn’t make out the motive for the slaying.
Crumbley has two juvenile arrests on his record and four adolescent offender arrests. All the arrests are for robbery, with his most recent one being in September 2020.