Woman, 95, charged with murder of roommate in Coney Island nursing home

Smirnova has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

Cops arrested a woman, 95, for allegedly killing her roommate, 89, inside a Coney Island nursing home Sept. 14.

At 10:30 p.m., police were called to Seagate Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, 3015 West 29 St., where they found Nina Kravtsov with injuries to her head.

She was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, where she was pronounced dead the next day.

Police arrested Galina Smirnova on Sept. 16 and charged her with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

According to the New York Times, the criminal complaint stated a wheelchair inside the room where Kravtsov died had been partially disassembled, and one of its footrests was on the floor, covered in blood. The other footrest was outside the room, on the ground below their window.

It also stated that a witness reported seeing Smirnova’s hospital gown, and both her legs had blood on them.

Smirnova was arraigned in court, and she pleaded not guilty. The judge ordered her held without bail.

Kravtsov’s daughter, Lucy Flom, who lives in Florida, spoke to the New York Post about the death.

“I was devastated,” she told the outlet. “My friends are saying they can’t believe it because it only happens in movies. Right now, I’m grieving… the circumstances of how [my mother] died. I said, OK, they took her to the hospital. They are going to stabilize her. She was in the trauma unit. I didn’t expect this outcome that she’d die.”

She also said Kravtsov was a Holocaust survivor.

“The fact that this happened inside a nursing home is deeply disturbing and raises urgent questions about supervision, staffing, and accountability at Seagate Rehabilitation and Nursing Center,” said Councilmember Justin Brannan, whose district covers Coney Island. “Families place their trust in these facilities to care for their loved ones—they deserve peace of mind, not horror stories like this. I am demanding answers and working to ensure something like this can never happen again.”