Dementia patient, 95, charged in killing of Holocaust survivor at Brooklyn nursing home

A 95-year-old dementia patient has been charged with the murder of Nina Kravtsov, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, inside Seagate Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Galina Smirnova was charged with murder and weapons offenses and was ordered held at Bellevue Hospital’s jail ward while the case proceeds.

Prosecutors described a grisly scene surrounding the death. The victim was found on her bed with a severe head injury, and there was blood throughout the room. The defendant, who had arrived at the facility just days earlier, was reportedly in the bathroom with blood on her gown and on her legs. Investigators said a wheelchair in Kravtsov’s room had both leg and foot pedals removed, with one pedal on the floor and the other discarded outside the window. The district attorney’s office said the evidence at the scene led investigators to believe the pedal of Smirnova’s wheelchair may have been used as the murder weapon.

Smirnova, according to prosecutors, arrived at Seagate on Friday and was assigned to Kravtsov’s room as her roommate. A nurse on rounds Sunday at about 8:55 p.m. found Kravtsov sleeping earlier, but returned roughly an hour later to find Kravtsov motionless with the head injury and blood scattered in the room. Kravtsov was rushed to NYU Langone Brooklyn Hospital, where she was pronounced dead after about 5:30 a.m. Monday.

Smirnova appeared in court in a wheelchair and was ordered held at Bellevue. Her attorney, Erin Darcy of Legal Aid, said the defense would seek bail at the next hearing and emphasized the need to place her in a suitable facility given her age while the case proceeds. The judge denied a request for a psychiatric examination as premature, and the next court date was set for Friday.

Kravtsov’s daughter, Lucy Flom, described her mother as someone who endured tremendous loss during the Holocaust and later built a life in the United States. Flom said her mother lost her entire family when she was five years old, later became a nurse in Ukraine, and moved to the U.S. in search of opportunity and safety. She recalled a mother who was loving, devoted, and dedicated to her family’s education.

Authorities did not publicly outline a motive, but the case has drawn attention to safety and care standards in long-term-care facilities. Prosecutors said the pedal from Smirnova’s wheelchair is suspected as the weapon in what they described as a grisly slaying, and they noted that Smirnova had only recently arrived at Seagate and shared a room with the victim just days before the incident.