Cops arrest 3 men in fatal stabbing of Harlem man rebuilding life after prison

Three suspects have been arrested in the slaying of a 33-year-old man who had been on the straight-and-narrow for three years after his release from prison, and had recently gotten a new apartment, police announced Sunday.

Jervey Barfield was getting his life back on track after being released from prison three years earlier, and had recently gotten an apartment of his own, when he was stabbed multiple times in the back after getting in an altercation with several men outside a deli on Frederick Douglass Blvd. near W. 141st St. around  5:25 a.m. May 3.

“He was lovable,” the victim’s sister Crystal Richardson, 40, told the Daily News at the time. “He didn’t have fights. He didn’t have beefs. He had just came home from jail. He was only out for, like, three years. So he wasn’t in a lot of trouble. He wasn’t in no trouble at all.”

On Sunday, police announced the arrests of three of his alleged attackers: Naquan Anderson, 37, Trevor Carpenter, 42, and Alvin Nelson, 44. Anderson and Nelson are charged with murder and Carpenter is charged with manslaughter, according to online records.

Cops first picked up Nelson — who lives in Harlem not far from the crime scene — arresting him May 16, police said. One week later they arrested Carpenter, and two weeks after that, on June 9, Anderson was arrested, cops said. Anderson resides in the Bronx and Carpenter is from Roanoke, Va., according to police. Both were arrested in Harlem.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the argument that lead to the bloodshed. After being stabbed, Barfield managed to run about a block away, where he collapsed, according to police. Medics found him and rushed him to Harlem Hospital, where he died.

At the time he was killed, Barfield had been out of prison for about three years since being released on parole in 2023 after serving 10 months for a Manhattan attempted-assault conviction.

After prison, he had faced multiple hardships in getting his life back in order, including employment and living arrangements, but had weathered them with determination and ingenuity, his family said.

“He was working on his music, trying to get a job,” his sister said. “I was trying to help him get a job as well. But because of his history, coming out of jail, it’s very hard for him to get jobs. So he was a little frustrated about that. So I would tell him, ‘Just occupy your time.’ So he would work out. And that’s what he said, ‘Hey, Sis, maybe I should be a physical trainer, being that I know how to work out’.’’

Barfield had been heavily impacted by the death of his older brother, Shannon Bates, who was shot to death in the Bronx almost 20 years ago, and would cope with the loss by creating rap songs honoring him, his sister said.

“I let him live with me for a while,” Richardson said. “Then you got to be a big sister and say, ‘Hey, you got to grow up. You need your own.’ We argued, and I kicked him out. We didn’t speak for roughly two months. But we couldn’t not talk to each other. He said, ‘Sis, I did it. I went to shelter. I got my spot.’ And I was like, ‘I’m proud of you.’”

They last spoke a couple days before he was killed, she said.

He was like, ‘Sis, where are you? Are you home yet?’ He was like, ‘All right, I was just checking in on you, making sure you was all right’,” she recalled. “That’s what we always do. We always check up on each other.”

Barfield saw close friend Noah Ramos just before he was killed.
“When he leaves me he normally calls me and let me know that he’s safe and sound,” Ramos said. “But this time I didn’t get that phone call.”

“He just found out that he got a new apartment,” Ramos added. “He was very excited.”

All three suspects are in Rikers awaiting court appearances.

Originally Published: July 27, 2025 at 5:59 PM EDT