It was the very iPhone stolen from Hwang Yang in his final moments that led detectives to his alleged killers, police said.
Alejandro Campos, 21, and Dominick Davis, 20, were arrested on April 26 for the young chef’s murder, one week after he was shot and killed on West 232nd Street near Cambridge Avenue. Police said Mr. Davis admitted killing Mr. Yang, a 26-year-old Riverdalian, but claimed it was an accident, and Mr. Campos admitted to driving the white Honda Odyssey getaway car. Both men are being held without bail.
In the week after Mr. Yang’s murder, 19 detectives — including 11 from the 50th Precinct — were assigned to the case. As they pinged, or sent cellular signals to the stolen phone, they scoured Cambridge Avenue buildings for surveillance footage. They viewed grainy black and white clips on basement security screens that showed Mr. Campos’ car fleeing the scene and making a left onto West 235th Street. But they were unable to make out the car’s license plate number, a police source said.
“I will tell you, we were pursuing every conceivable lead we could … looking at who got parking tickets in that area, who went through the Henry Hudson Bridge. We were looking at everybody who was arrested in the city at that time, who used a gun that matched the description to that gun,” the source said.
Ultimately, it was the pinging that provided detectives with their big break. When the stolen phone was purchased and switched on by an unsuspecting consumer in Washington Heights, investigators moved quickly.
“We basically tracked the victim’s cell phone. The perps sold his cell phone on Craigslist and we contacted the person who bought it,” the source said. “He still had the Craigslist ad and in fact had written down the license [plate] number of the guy who sold it.”
Mr. Campos was cuffed first, at around 7:30 p.m., at 2850 Webb Ave., where the two suspects live in separate apartments. Mr. Davis was brought in several hours later, according to police.
