Susan Carol Leyden was a fiercely loving and generous mother, known for a funny and vivacious energy that could light up a room. A former jewelry business owner, the 68-year-old female was the epitome of an independent woman for much of her life. Born in Yonkers, New York, she raised her only daughter as a single mother in Fort Lee, New Jersey, for over 30 years. Friends she considered family remembered that being with Susan always meant there was something to laugh about.
In the last years of her life, however, she faced struggles with untreated mental illness, which her daughter later said contributed to much pain and suffering.
On February 27, 2022, Susan was seen on surveillance video entering the East New York, Brooklyn, apartment of 83-year-old Harvey Marcelin. She was never seen leaving the building alive. The nature of their relationship is not entirely clear, but they had reportedly lived in the same Bronx shelter in 2019. In the days following Susan's disappearance, surveillance cameras captured Marcelin moving a wheeled shopping cart containing a large, black plastic bag. Around the same time, Marcelin was also recorded purchasing a saw, cleaning fluids, and trash bags at a Home Depot in Manhattan.
The horrific truth of Susan's fate began to emerge in the early morning hours of March 3, 2022. A passerby discovered her headless torso inside a multicolored bag with a flower decal, which had been placed in a shopping cart and abandoned on a street corner at Pennsylvania and Atlantic Avenues. The discovery launched a gruesome investigation that quickly led police to Marcelin's apartment just a few blocks away. A search of the residence on March 4 uncovered Susan's severed head, limbs, a hammer, cleaning supplies, and the box for an electric saw. One of her legs was found on March 7 near a garbage can several blocks from the apartment. The medical examiner later determined that Susan had died from "homicidal violence including blunt force trauma to the head."
The investigation revealed that Harvey Marcelin was a serial killer with a long history of violence against women. Marcelin had been convicted of murder in 1963 for shooting and killing a girlfriend, Jacqueline Bonds, in Harlem. After being paroled in 1984, Marcelin killed again, stabbing another girlfriend to death in 1985 and leaving her body in a trash bag. A conviction for first-degree manslaughter followed in 1986, and Marcelin was sentenced to prison, only to be released again on lifetime parole in August 2019. At the time of Susan's murder, Marcelin had been out of prison for less than three years.
Harvey Marcelin was arrested and charged with Susan's murder, tampering with physical evidence, and concealment of a human corpse. During the trial in April 2026, prosecutors presented the extensive surveillance footage as key evidence. Jurors also heard harrowing testimony from a key witness who was inside the apartment after the murder and admitted to accompanying Marcelin to Home Depot and helping to clean up the scene. The defense attempted to shift the blame to this witness, but the jury was unconvinced.
After just one hour of deliberation in May 2026, the jury found Harvey Marcelin guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and concealment of a human corpse. On June 10, 2026, Marcelin, then 88, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez stated, “This conviction holds the defendant accountable for the cruel and reprehensible murder of Susan Leyden. Following the senseless murder, the defendant desecrated the victim's remains in a manner that truly shocks the conscience.” The sentencing judge remarked that he had no doubt Marcelin would kill again if ever released. Marcelin will spend the remainder of life in prison, ensuring this serial killer can never again harm another person.
