Alban (Trevor) Leacock — Hotel Belleclaire mass murders, 1983
Overview
On February 3, 1983, Alban (Trevor) Leacock, a 41-year-old handyman/porter at the Hotel Belleclaire on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, shot and killed four people inside the hotel, including his wife. Police accounts at the time reported that the killings unfolded in the early-morning hours inside the couple’s seventh-floor apartment, after which shots were also fired elsewhere in the building.
Timeline of the attack
According to contemporaneous reporting, the initial burst of gunfire occurred inside Leacock’s three-room apartment at the Hotel Belleclaire, with police placing the time around the pre-dawn hours. One UPI dispatch specified “about 4:30 a.m.” and identified Leacock as the perpetrator; another UPI bulletin the same day described the spree at the hotel later that morning as details were still emerging publicly. Taken together, these accounts reflect an overnight/early-morning sequence with rapidly updated reporting.
Victims (names, ages, date, and location)
- Christine Leacock (25) — killed February 3, 1983; Hotel Belleclaire, 2175 Broadway, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City. Identified in police statements as Leacock’s wife.
- Jacob Zimmer (61) — killed February 3, 1983; Hotel Belleclaire, 2175 Broadway, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City. Contemporary reporting described one of the victims as the hotel owner; archival victim records list Jacob Zimmer among those killed.
- Desiree Winfield (12) — killed February 3, 1983; Hotel Belleclaire, 2175 Broadway, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City.
- David Williams (50) — killed February 3, 1983; Hotel Belleclaire, 2175 Broadway, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City.
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Account
