Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of assault and murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Homicide: New York‘s latest episode, “East Harlem Serial Killer,” was released on Netflix on March 20, 2024. It follows the crimes of Arohn Kee, a serial rapist and killer who operated between 1991 and 1999.
In December 2001, Arohn Kee was convicted of 22 counts of murder, rape, sodomy, and robbery. He was found guilty of the murder of three women and the rape of four others. His victims belonged to the ages between 13 and 39. The women he murdered were 13, 18 and 19 years old respectively. His victims were all black or Hispanic residents of Harlem. Two of the victims’ families had recently emigrated from the Dominican Republic.
The police caught Kee when they had arrested him on an unrelated theft charge. Authorities collected his DNA from a water cup provided to him during his arrest. Unexpectedly, it matched the DNA samples collected from the crime scenes. According to government records, that led to the East Harlem Serial Killer’s capture. However, Kee claimed he was not related to the case in any manner.
In February 1999, the New York Times reported that Arohn Kee was caught by a SWAT team at the Sun Hotel in downtown Miami. A 15-year-old Brooklyn girl, Angelique Stallings, whom authorities feared to be dead after she was reported missing, was also found with him, unharmed.
The reason why it took so long for the police to arrest Arohn Kee was due to a lack of criminal records. In the early 90s, Kee was reportedly convicted of first-degree robbery. However, his DNA was not collected as it was not a standard practice then.
How many years was Arohn Kee sentenced to?
Arohn Kee was sentenced to 400 years in prison without a chance for parole. It was announced after he was convicted of the three murders and four rapes. According to the 2001 New York Times report, the families of all seven of his victims were present at the sentencing. Kee’s first known victim is Paola Illera, a 13-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in 1991. Authorities reportedly contacted Kee after that incident but failed to connect him to the case.
In 2009, NBC New York reported that Arohn Kee had been making a profit off his deadly crimes by selling souvenirs. Known as “rape cards,” they contained a detailed description of how Kee carried out the sexual assaults for which he was convicted. However, Kee left the names of the victims out of the description. Unfortunately, no action was taken due to the Son of Sam law in New York. It prohibits criminals from profiting off their stories unless they avoid providing details of people against whom the offenses were committed.
Later, prison officials stated that they would review Kee’s mail privileges or place him in solitary confinement. Families of the victims also expressed significant distress about Arohn Kee profiting from the horrific crimes he inflicted on young girls. The East Harlem serial killer also reportedly signed the “rape cards” himself.
Homicide: New York is a true crime docu-series that revolves around some of the city’s most significant cases as the detectives who led and solved the cases revisit their investigations. The series is currently streaming on Netflix.
