Man Arrested In UES Murder, Police Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A man from Oklahoma is facing charges for the gruesome murder of an Upper East Side man in his home, police said.

Alex Ray Scott, 24, was arrested Friday and charged with murder, grand larceny and possession of stolen property, an NYPD spokesperson said. Scott — whose address given by police is Tulsa, Oklahoma — is accused of killing 64-year-old Kenneth Savinski inside his apartment on East 83rd Street between Park and Lexington avenues.

Savinski's body was discovered Wednesday night when a concerned friend went to check on him after calls and text messages went unanswered, police said. Upon discovering the body, the friend called police, an NYPD spokesman said.

Medics pronounced Savinski dead at the scene, police said. Police said Savinski was suffering wounds to his head and neck when his body was found. The city medical examiner's office will conduct an autopsy to determine the official cause of death.

Wednesday's homicide is the first in more than two years on the Upper East Side, according to crime statistics collected by the NYPD's 19th Precinct. The 19th precinct did not record a murder in all of 2019. Crimes such as felony assault and misdemeanor assault have dropped in the neighborhood since 2019, according to the precinct's stats, but robberies have nearly tripled year to date.

Savinski's neighbors described him as a friendly man who went to church often, the New York Post reported.