Friday Crime Blotter: Two Arrests In Suspicious Summer Death, A Hammer to the Head in Greenwood Heights & More

EAST FLATBUSH – A “suspicious death” from the summer has been confirmed as murder and police have two suspects in custody.

Annika Cansino, 23, and Alexander Alberda, 21, have both been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and kidnapping, police announced.

The charges are for the death of 58-year old Kyinar Thein, a nurse at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, in July of this year.

Thein’s body was found wrapped in a bedsheet in the bedroom closet of her Lenox Road apartment in East Flatbush on Saturday, July 21, police said. NYPD officers performed a wellness check at the residence around 6:45 am, after a call from Thein’s family, and discovered her body. Responding EMS pronounced the woman dead at the scene.

Cansino and Alberda, from East Flatbush and East New York, respectively, though the Daily News reported that Cansino lived at Thein’s address before she moved to an apartment about a mile away.

So far, no details as to the cause of death or a motive in the crime have been released.

EAST FLATBUSH – Earlier this week, a shooting in East Flatbush sent a man to the hospital. Now, police are looking for his assailant.

The attack came on Tuesday, October 23, around 2:00 am. The suspect walked up on a 40-year old man near Maple Street and Albany Avenue and shot the victim once in the chest, then fled, police said.

EMS responded to the shooting and rushed the victim to Kings County Hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition, police said.

Surveillance photos of the shooter can be seen below:

GREENWOOD HEIGHTS – Police are looking for two men wanted in a brutal robbery in which they struck a man in the head with a hammer.

The attack happened in Greenwood Heights, just before midnight on Sunday, October 14, police said. The two suspects approached their 27-year-old victim from behind, hitting him in the head with a hammer. Then, they stole his backpack and two iPhones.

The robbers fled and police said the victim refused medical attention at the scene. Surveillance video of the suspects can be seen below:

CROWN HEIGHTS – Finally, police are looking for a man wanted in a home-invasion robbery where the suspects impersonated police officers.

The incident took place in Crown Heights, just after noon on Tuesday, October 9, police said. The suspect and an accomplice (who has since been apprehended) walked up to an apartment near St. John’s Place and Classon Avenue and ID’ed themselves as cops, flashing a badge and a gun.

Once inside the apartment, they bound the hands and feet of a 19-year-old woman who was inside, as well as blindfolding a 77-year-old who was in the apartment, police said. The duo then ransacked the place, stealing an undisclosed amount of money.

The suspects fled and left their victims uninjured, said police. Surveillance video of the suspect at large can be seen below:

Anyone with information in regard to any of the incidents above is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.