Bio

Alex J. Mengel, also known as Alexander Mengel, was born in Guyana on January 29, 1955. He later moved to the United States and lived in New York. Before the murders, Mengel worked as a tool-and-die maker. By 1985, Mengel was living in New York and had access to firearms. He had at least one known arrest before the killings, connected to an assault involving his former wife.

Murder Story

On February 24, 1985, Westchester County Police Officer Gary Homer Stymiloski stopped Alex Mengel’s vehicle in Yonkers, New York. Mengel was reportedly returning from a weekend of target shooting in the Catskill Mountains. During the stop, Officer Stymiloski saw shotgun shells in the vehicle and called for backup. Before help arrived, Stymiloski was shot and killed. Mengel fled the scene, and police began searching for him.

Soon after, investigators believed Mengel abducted Beverly Capone, a 44-year-old IBM worker and mother. Capone disappeared after leaving work, and police later found that Mengel was using her car while fleeing toward Canada.

On March 2, 1985, police in Toronto, Canada, spotted Mengel driving Capone’s car. He tried to escape but crashed the vehicle and was arrested. Inside the car, police found a woman’s scalp and other evidence connecting him to Officer Stymiloski’s murder.

Investigators later found items belonging to Capone in a Catskills cabin linked to Mengel. Her body was discovered in a wooded area in Greene County, New York. She had been stabbed, and her scalp and parts of her face had been removed. Tests later connected the scalp found in the car to Capone.

Police also investigated Mengel for the attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl in Skaneateles, New York. The girl said a man wearing lipstick and what looked like a badly fitting wig tried to grab her, but she escaped. Investigators believed the “wig” may have been Capone’s scalp, but this was never proven in court.

Canadian authorities ordered Mengel deported to New York. He was later indicted for the murder of Officer Stymiloski and charged in Beverly Capone’s murder.

On April 26, 1985, Mengel was being transported after a court appearance when he tried to escape on the Taconic State Parkway. While handcuffed, he struggled with officers and tried to take a gun. A state trooper shot and killed him during the escape attempt. Mengel died before he could stand trial.