It's suicide by slay

Motivational speaker 'did a Kevorkian'
By LAURA ITALIANO

Last Updated: 10:28 AM, January 28, 2010
Posted: 3:04 AM, January 28, 2010

It was too crazy to be true -- a motivational speaker from Long Island, bent on suicide, drives to East Harlem, announces, "I want to do a Kevorkian," and is stabbed to death in his car by a helpful passer-by.

But in a stunning turnaround, prosecutors now think the admitted stabber's wacky explanation for the July 16 death of tragic Jeffrey Locker may actually be what happened.

The account is substantiated by Locker's huge debts and recent life-insurance purchases and computer searches for funeral arrangements, Manhattan prosecutors said in a dramatic filing made public yesterday.

"It makes sense now," said one law-enforcement source, speaking on condition he not be named.

"[Locker] was deeply in debt. The guy had bought like $18 million worth of life insurance. He was researching Jewish funerals and cemeteries."

Still, ex-con and admitted stabber Kenneth Minor remains on the hook, facing at least a charge of manslaughter if not outright murder.

"Regardless of whether it's true or not," notes the source, "You don't get to kill someone just because they want you to."

The shocking development was revealed yesterday when Minor, 36, was brought in cuffs to court on a routine appearance.

He remains, for now, accused of brutally stabbing and robbing Locker as the Valley Stream, LI., dad of three sat in his 2007 Dodge sedan at First and Paladino avenues on a Wednesday night, shortly after stopping at a deli to buy condoms. Minor insists Locker gave him his ATM card in payment for the suicide assistance.

Yesterday, his lawyer, Daniel Gotlin, told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman that he wants the top charge -- first-degree murder, carrying a maximum of life without parole -- dropped. He also asked that a second grand jury be impaneled to vote a lesser charge of manslaughter, which carries a maximum of up to 15 years.

The revelations shook loose some previously sealed court documents -- including the gripping police notes from Minor's confession.

"I tried to choke him with the wire, but it was old and kept breaking," Minor told cops. "He told me to use the knife. He said to hold it against the steering wheel with the blade facing him. I did that, and he leaned forward into the knife three to four times while I held it . . . He then told me to move the knife over to the other side where his heart is.

"I moved the knife over and he leaned forward into it a couple of more times. At that point, he was alive and breathing heavily. I got out of the car and threw the knife."

Locker had no luck with money -- telling Minor that he'd lost $400,000 in a "Ponzi scheme" and had even been swindled by the first "Kevorkian" he tried to hire.

"He told me that he had no cash on him because he paid a guy on the West Side to kill him, but the guy beat him."

From: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/motivational_speaker_did_kevorkian_PnwuA8PtvxTpOMlmkSTibN