Mar. 21, 1964 - Alvin Mitchell, 18, a surly street-gang tough, broods away the days in Queens County jail awaiting trial on the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old Springfield Gardens, Queens, girl last July 20. Yet, a man accused of having recently murdered two Queens women has confessed to the slaying of which Mitchell was indicted.
The chagrin and bafflement of police and the Queens District Attorney’s office over the conflicting admissions of Mitchell and Winston Moseley (pictured), 29, a $100-a-week IBM machine operator, were clearly evident today.
Confronted with a report that Moseley had confessed to the stab-slaying of Barbara Kralik last July, Assistant Queens D.A. Bernard Pattens said: “I cannot comment on the Kralik investigation. We have charged Moseley with two cases of homicide we are certain of.”
Barbara Kralik, a schoolgirl, was viciously stabbed with a pair of scissors in the bedroom of her Springfield Gardens home. A month or so later, Mitchell, a skinny, girl-chasing teenager, was picked up. After intense grilling, police said, he blurted out a confession in which he admitted the fatal stabbing climaxed a night of boozing and “looking for girls.”
Last Wednesday, Moseley, a father of two and reportedly a “Jekyll-and-Hyde” personality, was arrested on a burglary charge. Under questioning, police said, he admitted slaying a barmaid and a housewife within the past month. He also reportedly admitted to committing at least 10 rapes. And he admitted the Barbara Kralik killing.
What has now confused the authorities is that Moseley’s confession contained details of the Kralik case known only to a very few investigators. For example, he described in considerable detail the interior of the Kralik home.
He reportedly said in his confession that he had followed the Kralik girl home several times before killing her. Prowling in the middle of the night and following lone women home was Moseley’s pattern of operation, police have said.
According to his admissions, he hewed to that routine in the cases of Catherine (Kitty) Genovese, 28, a barmaid, of Kew Gardens on March 13 and Mrs. Annie May Johnson, 24, a housewife, of South Ozone Park on Feb. 29.
Miss Genovese was stabbed at least 12 times, apparently with a bone-handled knife later found in a tool chest in Moseley’s home in South Ozone Park.
In the case of Mrs. Johnson, the medical examiner said she died of at least eight puncture wounds made with a file or a screwdriver.
Moseley is still being questioned about other recent rapes and killings.
