Man, who sprung from NYC freezer with knife, had been charged in decades-old slayings

An Arizona man accused of killing two people in Boston 30 years ago died Sunday after he jumped out of a New York restaurant’s freezer and attacked an employee with a knife, according to multiple media reports.

The New York Daily News reported 54-year-old Carlton Henderson was hiding in a walk-in freezer while Sarabeth’s restaurant in Manhattan was serving brunch. He sprang from the freezer after an unsuspecting employee opened the door.

He shouted “Away from me, Satan!” as he ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, according to several media accounts.

The employees were able to wrest the knife from Henderson, who then lost consciousness before having apparently having a heart attack, according tothe New York Times. He later died at a hospital. The Times report said Henderson was from Cave Creek.

No restaurant employees were injured in the attack, the report said.

But the story doesn’t stop there.

In 2017, Henderson was charged with the 1988 murder of two Boston residents. William Medina, 26, and Antonio Dos Reis, 22, were fatally shot while sitting in a parked car, according to a statement from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.

The killings were thought to be connected to a San Diego-based drug trafficking ring that expanded to Boston, the New York Times said. Henderson may have been ordered to kill the two men on the order of the group’s kingpin, theTimesreported.

Decades later, police tracked Henderson to a St. Louis Airbnb rental. He was arrested and extradited to Boston, where he was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, the report said. The indictment was based on statements Henderson made to police during a 1993 interview with federal prosecutors.

But a Massachusetts judge later ruled the statements were inadmissible because the interview had been conducted with the promise that anything Henderson said wouldn’t be used against him, according to the Times report. Prosecutors argued no written agreement was found.

Henderson was released on his own recognizance in July. He was scheduled to return to court on Aug. 14.

Investigators are still trying to determine why he was in New York and, more importantly, what he was doing in that freezer.

New York City police did not respond to inquiries from The Arizona Republic.

Follow Bree Burkitt on Twitter: @breeburkitt

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