Teen Hate Slayer Admits To Prior Assault

 

By Liz Goff
One of the five teenagers charged last week with robbing and strangling a Chinese newspaper executive confessed to police that he and two accomplices had stalked and robbed another Asian man at his Flushing residence last month.

Corey Azor, 16, said he, Chris Levy, 17, and 17-year-old Keron Wilthshire robbed Jin Tong Yuan of $60 and his cell-phone on May 27 after they followed Yuan into an elevator at his apartment building. When Yuan tried to run from the pair, Wilthshire put him in a headlock and Levy held a silver pistol to Yuan’s head, while Azor swiped the cash and cellphone, police sources said.

Azor and Levy were arrested last week, along with Jay-Quell Merkerson, 16, Bryce Newton, 16, and a 15-year-old accomplice in connection with the robbery and slaying of David Kao, 40, whose body was found June 6 on a lawn in Flushing.

Investigators said after the murder, the five teens split the $115 they found in Kao’s wallet and took Kao’s car for a two-day joyride.

Kao of Woodhaven worked as a marketing executive for the World Journal, the largest Chinese-language daily newspaper in the United States.

Police said Kao was dozing in the driver’s seat of his 2000 Lexus SUV as the vehicle was double-parked outside his ex-wife’s home at about 1 a.m. on June 6 when the teens spotted him.

Police sources said Azor, after his arrest, was quick to give up Levy, telling investigators that Levy broke into the vehicle, put Kao in a chokehold and dragged him to the back seat of the Lexus.

Levy later told investigators he “held Kao in a chokehold and punched him in the face until he stopped moving”. The teens then found that Kao had a pulse  and dumped his body on the Flushing lawn, swiped his cash and spent the next two days joy riding in the Lexus with more than a dozen friends.

Levy and Azor were arrested on June 9 and charged with second-degree murder, second-degree robbery and criminal possession of stolen property. Police found Kao’s wallet and credit cards on the teens at the time of their arrest. Both were ordered held without bail at their arraignments at Queens Criminal Court. Neither teen entered a plea.

Merkerson, Newton and the 15-year-old were arrested after police spotted them in Kao’s stolen Lexus, prosecutors said.

Merkerson was arraigned on stolen property charges in Queens Criminal Court, where he was released without bail. Newton was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and released without bail. The 15-year-old was charged as a juvenile with criminal possession of stolen property.

Wilthshire, a student at Bryant H.S. in Long Island City, was charged with assault and robbery and held in lieu of $75,000 bail at his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court in connection with the Yuan robbery.