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Suspect Arrested in Connection with NY Drug Store Killings

Posted on Jun 29, 2011

After conducting a large manhunt for the suspected drug store killer, New York police have arrested 33 year-old David Laffer. His home is located just minutes from Haven Drug Store, where he allegedly killed four people and robbed the pharmacy of more than 10,000 highly addictive prescription painkillers.

Police had video footage of the killer from the pharmacy, but another important tool they had at their disposal was a prescription drug database. Based on information obtained from this database, police were able to see that Laffer had purchased the same drugs he allegedly stole in the weeks before the killings.

Laffer is a veteran of the U.S. Army. He was discharged in 2002 after serving seven years.

Laffer has been charged with first degree murder for the killings of the four people inside the pharmacy.

His wife, Melinda Brady was also arrested in connection with the crime and has been charged with third-degree robbery. She allegedly drove Laffer to and from the scene of the crime.

"He was doing it because he lost his job and I was sick," Brady told reporters outside the Suffolk County Police Department.

Brady had allegedly been doctor-shopping in the months leading up to the robbery and killings, in an effort to get prescription pain pills. According to recent reports, she had been to as many as 12 doctors, all of whom wrote her prescriptions for hydrocodone, a highly addictive pain pill.

Authorities do not believe that the doctors Brady visited are pill mill doctors, noting that modest quantities of hydrocodone were prescribed to her.

Yet, this pharmacy robbery stands out among the 1,800 that have occurred in the United States in the past three years. Fearing other pharmacies in the area would be struck, authorities advised those pharmacies to install video cameras. Unfortunately, these robberies are becoming more common, with Long Island alone experiencing a 125 percent increase in drug store robberies.

Those close to the couple say that they were energetic and kind, but had faced tough times since both of them had been out of work.

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