Florida man admits to NYPD that he's wanted in connection with a double murder

A homeless man from Florida surrendered to NYPD cops in the Bronx late Tuesday and admitted he was wanted in an unsolved double homicide in a suburb of Miami about a year ago, officials said.

Javani Stewart, 23, gave himself up at the 40th Precinct station house in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx after approaching an officer and asking for help in finding housing, a police source said. 

It was then that Stewart, who said he had no fixed address, admitted authorities were seeking him in connection with the homicides, the source said. 

Stewart was taken to Bronx Criminal Court late Wednesday to await legal proceedings there.   He will remain in police custody until the completion of extradition procedures, said a spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorneys office.

According to law enforcement sources, Stewart acknowledged that authorities in Florida were looking for him in connection with the shooting on June 23, 2018, of two Miami Gardens men as they sat in an SUV under the Palmetto Expressway at about 167th Street and NW 27th Avenue.   The location is about 10 miles north of of Miami.

The victims were identified as Donald Armstrong and Stephen Campbell, both 23.  Campbell, reportedly the father of three, was pronounced dead at the scene, while Armstrong died at a hospital, officials said.

At the time of the shooting, witnesses reported a lanky man running away from the scene, north on 27th Avenue. 

It was unclear what Stewart had been doing in the months following the shooting, how he wound up in the Bronx and what the motive for the crime may have been.  Officials with the Miami Gardens police department declined to comment Wednesday.

The arrest of Stewart is the second out-of-state homicide case to land in the hands of the NYPD in recent days. On Tuesday, officials announced the arrest of a Queens man,  Henry Broadnax, 80, on charges that he kiilled two women in Virginia Beach in 1973, officials said.

Broadnax  is suspected of killing Janice Pietropoli and Lynn Maria Seethaler, both 19,  in a motel, officials and court papers said.

Police sources said Broadnax was tracked down through DNA evidence found at the crime scene.  According to papers filed in Queens State Supreme Court, Broadnax faces second-degree murder charges in Virginia. 

Broadnax was living in a facility for homeless veterans when police arrested him.  An extradition hearing is expected later this month in Queens.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.