Katie Gallagher.Photo: Desiree Navarro/WireImage
Eleven months after fashion designerKathryn “Katie” Gallagher, 35, wasfound deadin her New York City apartment, a man who police say is linked to four other deaths and numerous robberies has been charged.
Kenwood Allen, 34, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with her death, theNew York Timesreports. According to a statement from theManhattan District Attorney, Allen is charged with five murders total. He faces 10 counts of second-degree murder (two counts for each victim,) 17 counts of robbery and attempted robbery, 11 counts of second-degree assault and additional charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
Katie Gallagher.MAX RAPP/Patrick McMullan/Getty
Between March 18, 2022, and December 18, 2022, authorities claim Allen committed robberies and additional crimes in lower Manhattan “sometimes alone and sometimes with other individuals,” according to the DA’s statement.
“In most of the incidents, Allen drugged his victims with fentanyl and other opioids in order to steal their credit cards, watches, phones, and other personal identifying information,” the statement adds.
Sean Shirley, 36, is Allen’s alleged accomplice, theTimesreports, but he is not charged in connection with Gallagher’s death.
Police claim Allen followed Gallagher home from a bar and offered her drugs, according to the outlet. The next morning, she was found dead in her apartment,NBC New Yorkreports.
She launched her eponymous fashion line in 2010 and had 26 collections that were featured in New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week. Her 27th line was in the works, and she hoped to debut it in the fall, her obituary states.
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“Katie dressed cultural icons from Daphne Guinness to Lady Gaga, Rita Ora, and Laverne Cox. An icon herself, she also modeled for several fellow designers and labels,” the obituary added. “She was unique, beautiful, smart, unabashed, and always wanting. She was hardworking and talented, with so many ideas and plans for future projects. We are so proud of who she was and all she achieved in her brief but full and beautiful life.”
She leaves behind her parents, five sisters, a niece, her grandmother, and many extended “family members, friends, clients, and colleagues she met along the way,” according to the obituary.
Alexander Rudnitsky, Sadath Ahmed, Nurbo Shera and Ardijan Berisha are Allen’s additional alleged victims, theTimesreports.
Shirley is facing second-degree murder charges in connection with the deaths of Ahmed and Rudnitsky, according to the outlet. He has pleaded not guilty.
In aseparate ring of alleged drugging deaths, several people were charged in connection with the deaths of two men who authorities say were fatally drugged and then robbed after visiting gay bars in New York City.
source: people.com
