Ana Del Valle and Basil Gray

22:47Ana Del Valle:Another detective told the New York Post that they think it would have been extremely difficult to pinpoint who was calling the police about crime in the building due to the sheer number of residents who live there. Now, of course, I feel like anything is possible in true crime, but this doesn't seem to be the theory that the police feel is most likely. So if they weren't specifically targeted, how did this happen? Well, one theory points to that mop outside of Anna's apartment. Some people, including Anna's daughter Maria, have speculated that maybe she was a witness to something while she was in the hallway that morning.

23:24Ana Del Valle:Possibly some type of crime like a drug deal. And according to ABC7 News, detectives have explored the idea that maybe Basil had heard the gunshots, went out to check on Anna, and that's when the gun was turned on him. That would explain him being shot at the door, but because we don't know their exact times of death, the opposite could also be true. Maybe Basil was shot first and Anna came out to see what was going on. The likely multiple perpetrators tied her up and decided they couldn't let her live after witnessing their actions. Both people shot her so that they would both have their hands dirty and essentially keep the secret due to mutually assured destruction.

24:06Ana Del Valle:And again, we do have another quote from the NYPD that could lead us down this path. Detective Steven Minucci told CBS News, quote, We believe it may have been drug-connected, not to the victims themselves, but rather to the drug trade in the area, end quote. Mireya's wondered this too. She told the New York Post, quote, You couldn't go down the stairs without seeing people doing drugs. people would be playing dice. I'm not sure if someone heard she was calling cops, or maybe they were looking for someone else and she came out at the wrong time. End quote. Now, I do think it's worth noting here that a narcotic dog was brought to the scene and didn't alert to drugs inside of either of the apartments.

24:48Ana Del Valle:But of course, that doesn't mean it didn't happen somewhere else in the building or in the hallway. Unfortunately, this was really more of just a brief mention of this investigative measure in that Daily Beast article. Detectives also spoke with known criminals who lived in the building, but all of them said that they didn't know anything about the murders. And I get it, I'm not one to easily trust a random criminal, but Lieutenant Mike Spezio told Michael Daly, quote, I believe many of them told us the truth, end quote. So, again, take that for what you will. We know that detectives spoke with many residents of the building, which didn't lead to any information, And that's caused people to wonder if the silence isn't necessarily from a lack of knowledge, but from a fear of their own safety.

25:37Ana Del Valle:Which feels like a very reasonable conclusion. I mean, even in the early months of this case, Maria only appeared in media interviews on camera anonymously. Which again, I completely understand. It's a terrifying situation not only for her, but everyone who lives there. But overall, even though detectives did seem to work the case thoroughly during the early days of the investigation, they were still quickly hitting walls. However, just as they were running out of possible theories and witnesses, they received something that could potentially help track down Anna and Basil's killers.

26:19Basil Gray:Hey, it's Christy from Lululemon. I'm in the office with what's new, and the Breezley Collection has definitely caught my eye. If you're like me and want to add some lighter, airy pieces to your wardrobe, this is a great place to start. There's a Breezley tank, shorts, and pants, all in our Swift fabric, which is super lightweight and stretchy. They're flowy staples you can mix and match for a really easy, elevated vibe, whether it's to and from the studio or just for every day. The Breezley Collection is in store now, or you can shop online at lululemon.com.

26:49Ana Del Valle:In September 2018, law enforcement released video footage, hoping the public could help them identify who was in it. They also stressed that the individuals were not considered suspects and were just wanted for questioning. But this is what the video shows. It shot through a peephole on the fifth floor of the building, the same floor Ana and Basil lived on. According to police, the video was taken around the same time they believed the murders occurred. We don't know what prompted this anonymous person to start recording, but it shows three people bundled up in warm clothing, just kind of pacing.

27:25Ana Del Valle:Now, when we talk about bad, grainy footage in true crime, this one is exactly what we're talking about. It's just incredibly blurry, so you can't see anyone's face. But you can make out some of what they're wearing, vaguely. They're in coats and appear to be wearing hats. In some reporting, it says that this is two men and one woman. But that's really hard for me to see. At least some of the clothing looks pretty baggy. And at least one of them might be wearing white. Of course, I'll have everything up for you guys that I can on the Voices for Justice podcast website and on social media so you can take a look.

28:05Ana Del Valle:And of course, share. But that's what I see personally. Now, just to kind of add to the atmosphere of this building, after this video was released to the public, law enforcement had to relocate the witness and their family from their apartment after they said that they were in fear for their safety. And unfortunately, despite all of that, it doesn't seem that anything came from this video. As frustrating as this is to say, that's pretty much where these cases are today. On the one-year anniversary of the murders, Anna's kids organized a vigil outside of the Bushwick houses. They passed out flyers to remind people of their mother, while her oldest son, Hector, spoke into a megaphone and addressed those inside.

28:51Ana Del Valle:At one point, he said, quote, It could be your mother next, end quote.

28:57Basil Gray:There's a hole in the floor where my mother left. I want you out. I want you to say something. You're not safe anywhere. My mom was in her own apartment. When you go to church now, you know in school, so where are you safe now?

29:14Ana Del Valle:Hector also told the Brooklyn Eagle that day, quote, She thought moving into that housing would help her. People live in fear. It's just scary because I'm afraid for my brother, my sister. They've taken enough. And we've got these people out there who don't give one iota for other people's life. End quote. And according to that article, Luis and Maria moved out of their childhood home after the murders. Hector said, quote, They're supposed to be living there, but how could you? There's a hole in my mother's living room where the last bullet went. End quote. For the one-year anniversary, the NYPD also released a video on their Facebook page, pleading for anyone with information to come forward.

30:01Basil Gray:I'm Deputy Chief Charles McAvoy, the Executive Officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn North. On Saturday, May 11th marks the one-year anniversary of a double homicide which occurred inside 140 Moore Street within the Bushwick housing developments. We are pleading to the public to come forward with any type of information possible, anything that you may have seen that would aid the Detective Bureau in investigating this double homicide. No tip is too small. And again, we are pleading with the public to please come forward. My name is Detective Steve Minucci from the 90th Precinct Detective Squad. I'm the lead detective on the murders of Anna Del Valle and Basil Gray from 140 Moore Street on May 11th, 2018.

30:40Basil Gray:Anna Del Valle was found by her daughter inside of her apartment in 140 Moore Street, bound and shot to death three times. Two days later, on May the 13th, her neighbor, Mr. Basil Gray, was found also shot inside his apartment by his family. I think for the public right now, there's people might be feeling two things. One of them is fear. I think people are scared to come forward if they have information. We need people who know what happened to come forward. Any little bit of information that you might know could help us. And it's your community, it's your home this happened in. You should come forward and help us with anything you might know.

31:14Basil Gray:Detective Thomas Hanley, Brooklyn North Homicide Squad. I'm the lead homicide detective on the Ana de Valais-Basile Gray murder investigation. The first thing that jumps off the page at us is the time of day that we believe it occurred. We believe the homicide occurred about 9.30 in the a.m. on the 11th of May, 2018. And the body wasn't discovered until 6 p.m. that night because she was inside of her apartment. And then two days later, Basile Gray was discovered by family members also inside his locked apartment. Both victims were neighbors. Both were victims of gunshot wounds. And through our investigation early on, it showed that both crimes were related through ballistic evidence.

31:55Basil Gray:We've been out there since the onset of the case, handing out tip cards, reward posters, which started out at$10 ,000 and it was raised to$20 ,000 for anyone with information related to or about this case. One thing the public can do is Crime Stoppers, 1-800-577-TIPS or CrimeStoppers.com online. The one thing we want to stress to the public that all contact with Crime Stoppers remains confidential. One thing we want to stress to anyone that might have information or might hear about the case and say, oh, maybe I know something or heard something or I heard from somebody is that Anna DiValle was a longtime resident of the Bushwick Housing Development.

32:37Basil Gray:She lived there for over 20 years. She raised a family there. Basile Gray is a New Yorker for a long, long time. Lived in that building for approximately five years. They were conscientious about their development. They tried to make it a better place. And I think they affected people in that development. And the people that live there know them, dealt with them, spoke with them, said they were cordial on a daily basis. So what we want to do is remember that, what people were trying to do to make it a better place, call, let us know, and let us decide what information is important and not important.

33:13Ana Del Valle:Despite rewards totaling up to$70 ,000, no tip has publicly resulted in an arrest. The FBI has said that investigators are working on leads, but don't have enough evidence to charge anyone. After nearly a decade without answers, Maria told 4 New York News that she believes social media will be the key to solving this case. Which brings me right to our call to action. Please share both of these cases. Ana Del Valle and Basil Gray deserve justice. Their loved ones have gone so long without answers. and there's clearly a large possibility that there's a killer or killers on the loose in Brooklyn.

33:56Ana Del Valle:You never know if someone has information they may not realize could blow a case wide open. Your share could make all the difference. At the very least, it reminds their loved ones and the NYPD that the public hasn't forgotten about them, and will continue to seek justice until these crimes have been solved.

34:23Ana Del Valle:As a reminder, 62-year-old Ana Del Valle was murdered on May 11, 2018 inside of her apartment at the Bushwick Houses in Brooklyn, New York. Her neighbor, 54-year-old Basil Gray, was also murdered inside his apartment during that same time frame. The FBI is offering a$50 ,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of those responsible. There's also an additional$20 ,000 NYPD Crime Stoppers reward. Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI New York at 212-384-1000 or the NYPD Crime Stoppers Unit at 1-800-577-TIPS. but as always thank you i love you and i'll talk to you next time

35:23Ana Del Valle:voices for justice is hosted and produced by me sarah tourney and is a voices for justice media original this episode contains writing and research assistance by jessica quaz if you love what we do here please don't forget to follow rate and review the show on your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice.

36:32Ana Del Valle:Welcome to the Secret After Show. the studio door is open and our emotional support puppies, Popcorn and Heber, are in the room. Let's go right into the case. This was another one of those cases where Jessica recommended it, and as soon as I looked at it, I thought, why isn't this getting more attention? You guys know, these cases are like my pet peeve. I see something and I'm like, double homicide? Neighbors? like this the circumstances feel like something that would be large in the media and for some reason that i could guess at but i won't they aren't making the media now i should say right they were on the unsolved mysteries podcast it was featured there there are a good number of articles there's just not a lot recent and when i say like that they're not big in the media.

37:30Ana Del Valle:I mean, like, they're not making big waves. This isn't one of those cases that I hear people bring up all the time. I mean, I didn't hear about it until Jessica recommended it to me, and I hate that. So just know, when I say, like, they don't have a lot of media, I mean, like, they're not larger than life, right? They're not making these huge waves. These are not household names in true crime, even though I feel like the circumstances of the case really demand that they should be, like, if that makes sense. And it's hard, right? Because I hate that the cases that have these very strange circumstances are usually the ones that make these waves, right?

38:10Ana Del Valle:It's either like somebody who's popular, somebody who's beautiful, or something that has these like crazy circumstances. Of course, that's not like a hard rule, that's just usually what I see. So in short, that's why I really wanted to cover it. I saw this. It needs attention. Let's bring attention to it. And it's hard, right? I feel like, you know, like I said in the episode, it does appear that investigators work this pretty thoroughly early on, but we also don't know a lot about it, right? We don't even know if the little DNA found at the scene was tested. We don't know if they tried to find surveillance from outside of the building.

38:50I mean, I have to hope that they did, but I keep coming back to like,

38:55Ana Del Valle:whoever was in that building has to be on video at some point. And could it be those three people that the NYPD pointed to in that footage saying that they, you know, were just wanted for questioning? I think it could be. I don't know, you guys, this is a hard one, especially when there's like no clear motive. But I really do, like I was saying in the episode, lean towards the theory that someone saw something and either Anna or Basil came out to check on one or the other. You guys know what I mean. And unfortunately, I do think that this case has been hindered by fear, which again is completely understandable.

39:38Ana Del Valle:It's so hard for me because, yes, I think every person who knows something should come forward. But what do you do if you have information and you're terrified? I would hope, I guess selfishly for these cases, that you would still come forward. And I will say, if you are somebody out there with information who's terrified, I think looking at the neighbor who provided the video footage is a good thing to look at, right? we know that he was scared for his life. He was scared for his family's life, and the police did assist in moving him. Now, without his name, I can't go look him up and make sure that like nothing bad happened to him, but this does seem to be a case where the police is offering protection to witnesses.

40:24Ana Del Valle:So if you're out there listening, you know something, and you're scared, please consider submitting the tip, even if you do it anonymously. Tips.fbi.gov is somewhere you can submit those anonymously. I mean, even if you have to go to a library, type it up, and send it, it could change this case forever. Now, let's go on to media discrepancies. My goodness, this was a frustrating one. And even just like the pronunciation of Basel's name was hard to track down. And I can't even tell you I'm a thousand percent right because I haven't heard a family member say it. I went with the most common pronunciation.

41:10Ana Del Valle:I went with what police most often said because I have to believe that they spoke to someone in Basel's family. But if I got it wrong, I'm very, very sorry. also of course i think one of the most glaring discrepancies that i told you up front was who found basil because we do have that article that like thoroughly describes this ex-girlfriend who stayed anonymous but still like thoroughly describes her finding him right but then i kept going back to the police and every single time they say family member family member a family member found him. So again, I just don't know what the truth is. And I was pretty upfront about that in the episode as I usually am.

41:55Ana Del Valle:But again, I just wanted to like, I feel like I have like a guilty conscience is the word I was looking for about these media discrepancies. So that's why I just like confessed to you guys every single time. I'm like, here are the 15 things I found. And this is why I chose this. It's just, it's so hard. And I know that that contributes to people not covering these cases as well, right? It's so much easier to cover a case when you have somebody being very loud in the media and telling you all these details. And it's really heartbreaking that I was able to tell you this whole story of like, Ana coming to this country and working hard, right, providing for her kids and just being like an upstanding citizen.

42:40Ana Del Valle:And then with Basil, it's like, I can't even tell you if I got his name right. It's so hard. And again, please do not blame these family members. I do not. I never ever blame a family member for not speaking to the media. It is a type of hell. I do not wish upon my worst enemy. Now, I will say that there were also media discrepancies about, like, how many times they were shot, where the gunshot wounds were, so again, I just heavily relied on police statements. But let's go on to our hero of this episode. I gotta give it up to the NYPD, you guys, getting there within minutes, doing what appears to be a pretty thorough investigation at least early on and creating that video on their Facebook page.

43:30Ana Del Valle:That's not something I see in most cases from the NYPD. Of course, I also have to give it up to Maria. Anna's daughter, she has been so vocal in the media. I mean, her kids have all together, but I think because Maria is the one who found her mom. And you know that she was scared early on. There's just so, I'm getting emotional, there's so many layers of trauma and fear. She has every reason to just live in that grief and trauma and not speak to the media. And she's out there, Hector and Luis are out there fighting for their mom. I think it's very admirable. but let's go on to our segment of hope this is by nicole acosta acosta i'm sorry from people magazine and the title reads florida man said he had info about a 1987 cold case then cops arrested him on suspicion of murder the article goes on to read gary edward glowax again i don't care about perpetrators' names.

44:45Ana Del Valle:He was 70, was arrested in connection with the 1987 killing of 20-year-old Melissa Taylor Ellison. And listen, I know I just went on a rant about coming forward to the police, and I will say, if you killed somebody, especially you should come forward and tell them you have information. It's like the petty part of me really loves to see it when these murderers put their foots in their mouths and get caught. It's one of my favorite things to see in true crime. You guys know I don't cover solved, right? So I don't always know a ton about all the solved cases. But whenever it's like a killer tries to like taunt the police and they get caught, it's very, very satisfying.

45:28Ana Del Valle:And that appears to be the case here. The article says a Florida man who told police he had information about a decades-old cold case found himself under arrest on suspicion of murder. Again, Gary, who cares what your last name is, 70 is accused of killing Melissa Taylor Ellison, a 20-year-old mother, in December of 1987, according to a statement from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Oh, you guys, this is hard to hear. Nearly 40 years ago, officers responding to a report of a dead person found Ellison in her bed with blunt force injuries, the sheriff's office said. Investigators said Ellison's roommates checked on her after hearing her toddler crying on the living room couch.

46:16Ana Del Valle:Eventually, the case went cold, but on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, that man contacted the Clay County Sheriff's Office telling dispatchers he wanted to provide information about Ellison's death. He was later interviewed by investigators with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, where they obtained a warrant for his arrest. And unfortunately, it's a little unsatisfying like we see with these newer developments. Essentially, he was just booked into the DeVall County Jail on charges of second-degree murder and burglary with assault or battery. He hasn't entered a plea as far as this article knows, and authorities have not shared a possible motive for the killing.

47:00Ana Del Valle:but it does look like this case has been resolved. They did make a statement about the family, but it's not from the family, so I don't know exactly how they feel, but I really hope that this gave them more answers and they are satisfied with this arrest. Now, surprise guys, I actually have a second segment of hope for you. It's not exactly true crime related so that's why this is kind of like a bonus segment of hope um but this comes from the Brooklyn paper and their arts and entertainment section and um it has to do with the the housing unit where Anna and Basil lived the title reads Bushwick houses residents helped create Bushwick rooted a new public art installation celebrating the community's heritage and it's just like a really sweet article about how they created this like huge art installation around this building that makes it just happier and brighter and they say hopefully a better place especially for the children to live and this is also making me emotional you guys I'm just like that person so forgive me but that's also why I'm here so it says Bushwick Rooted is part of From Roots to Arts, celebrating NYCHA's cultural heritage.

48:29Ana Del Valle:It's the first artist-in-residence pilot program. The initiative places artists within the communities across all five boroughs, pairing them with residents to create public artwork that reflects each neighborhood's history, culture, and unique stories. Rather than being defined solely by artists, the project was shaped through collaboration with residents who contributed ideas centered on food, wildlife, and community life. NYCHA officials added that the project is part of the Connected Communities Initiative, a resident-driven urban design framework focused on revitalizing over 2 ,400 acres of open space across more than 300 public housing developments.

49:12Ana Del Valle:I wish you guys could see these photos. I don't know why I'm getting so emotional. It's just like so amazing to see art and beauty in the face of so much darkness and in these pictures these kids that like helped are so happy they had a whole ribbon cutting ceremony to open it it is so cute and so sweet so while it's not our traditional segment of hope i thought it was very very appropriate for this episode as i found it in my research about it but as always thank you I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.

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