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Killer of Mt. Vernon grandmother pleads guilty

Jane Lerner
jlerner@lohud.com
  • Lloyd Lewis%2C 33%2C of Mount Vernon%2C is a career criminal and was a neighbor of the dead woman
  • He killed her after she interrupted him stealing copper pipes from her home
Emma Gruber, who was murdered in Mount Vernon, is shown on a community flyer.

A career criminal pleaded guilty Thursday to killing his Mount Vernon neighbor a year ago when she arrived home from a senior citizen center and found him burglarizing her home.

Lloyd Lewis, 33, pleaded guilty to a felony count of second-degree murder in the Feb. 10, 2014, death of Emma Gruber, 85.

Westchester County Judge Barry Warhit indicated he would sentence Lewis to 22 years to life on May 14, three years short of the maximum.

Lloyd Lewis

Investigators said Lewis broke into the woman's South Sixth Avenue home to steal copper pipes. When Gruber interrupted him, he bludgeoned her to death with a piece of plywood.

Her body was found under a pile of clothes at the bottom of her basement stairs two days later, after a grandchild reported her missing.

Gruber's niece, Frances Tucker, said she was relieved that the family would not have to go through a trial. She thanked police and prosecutors for bringing Lewis to justice.

Her aunt's loss remains painful, not just for the family but for the entire community, she said by telephone from her home in Virginia.

"Nothing will ever make up for the loss we all feel but there is some measure of satisfaction that her murderer has been brought to justice," Tucker said.

Gruber was well known in her neighborhood and at Greater Centennial AME Zion Church, where she was an usher.

Her violent death inspired a vigil and march to help solve her slaying.

"A trusting, vibrant, churchgoing octogenarian, who lived by herself and would always lend a hand to anyone in her neighborhood, sadly (lost) her life over some copper plumbing and a few household items," Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement.

Lewis, who had been arrested 10 times since 2001 and convicted on six misdemeanor charges, was picked up several weeks after the killing on an unrelated charge. Investigators said he had sold some of Gruber's possessions, including jewelry and a water meter, at a pawn shop and scrap yard.

Staff writer Jonathan Bandler contributed information for this report.

Twitter: @JaneLerner