Raleigh murder, rape suspect to be returned from New York City

Authorities from North Carolina will go to New York City next week to bring back Kendrick Keyanti Gregory, the man accused of murder, rape, armed robbery and other charges in a daylong crime spree in Raleigh on Aug. 31.

Gregory, 21, was arrested in New York the day after pawn shop owner Thomas Durand was shot and killed in the doorway of his Capital Boulevard shop and a 15-year-old girl was raped. He is also accused of shooting and robbing a man outside a hotel on New Bern Avenue and robbing a food store on New Hope Church Road that same day.

A Wake County grand jury indicted Gregory on Sept. 14 on 11 felony charges related to the crimes on Aug. 31. Police in New York also charged him with stealing a car and illegally having two handguns.

Gov. Pat McCrory had asked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to issue a governor’s warrant sending Gregory back to North Carolina, and that process will end Nov. 4, when law enforcement officers from North Carolina will take custody of Gregory at a court hearing in Manhattan, officials in both states said.

At court sessions earlier this month, prosecutors in New York told a judge that they would defer prosecution on the New York charges so Gregory can be tried on the more serious charges in North Carolina. Sources in New York said Gregory, who is represented by a Legal Aid attorney there, has waived any objections to the extradition.

While police from several agencies hunted for Gregory in the Triangle the day after the crimes happened, he apparently was able to slip away. Police have not disclosed how they think Gregory got to New York.

New York City police arrested Gregory because they say he was driving a car that had been stolen a short time earlier from outside a bank in lower Manhattan. The owner reportedly had left it running.

Police say Gregory had the two handguns when they stopped the car after tracking it over the Brooklyn Bridge using a GPS application on a phone and signals from the car.

This story was originally published October 27, 2015 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Raleigh murder, rape suspect to be returned from New York City."