The Unsolved Murders of Ana Del Valle and Basil Gray
- Sarah Turney
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
On the Friday before Mother's Day in 2018, 62-year-old Ana Del Valle stayed home inside the Brooklyn apartment where she had raised her children. On the same floor, her 54-year-old neighbor Basil Gray returned to the building carrying a cup of coffee.
By the end of that weekend, both apartments at the Bushwick Houses were crime scenes. Investigators believe Ana and Basil were killed on the same morning, and ballistics linked the two homicides. Yet there was no clear motive, no publicly identified suspect, and no arrest.
More than eight years later, their murders remain unsolved. This week on Voices for Justice, we are examining what happened, the evidence investigators released, and the questions someone may still be able to answer.
Listen to the Full Episode About Ana Del Valle and Basil Gray
The Friday Before Mother's Day
Friday, May 11, 2018, began as an ordinary workday for the Del Valle family. Ana's adult children, Mireya and her twin brother, shared the fifth-floor apartment where Ana had raised them. Mireya left for work that morning and called her mother shortly after 9 a.m. The call was brief, but it confirmed Ana was inside the apartment.
Ana had recently retired. She spent her time in the neighborhood, going to the supermarket or gym and helping care for the shared space around her home. She was known to mop the hallway on her floor, and a mop would later be found outside her apartment.
Later that day, Mireya stopped to buy flowers for her mother on her way home from work. When she reached apartment 5C at around 6 p.m., she noticed something immediately: the door was unlocked. The family was careful about locking it.
Inside, Mireya found Ana unresponsive. Ana's arms had been bound with an electrical cord, and she had been shot. Police and paramedics arrived within minutes and pronounced her deceased at the scene. The NYPD began investigating her death as a homicide.
Basil Gray Is Discovered Two Days Later
On Sunday, May 13, someone close to Basil became concerned after being unable to reach him. Reporting differs on whether the person who entered his apartment was a family member or an ex-girlfriend, but what followed is consistent: Basil was found deceased inside apartment 5B on the same floor.
Basil had been shot multiple times. Investigators believed he had been there since Friday morning, around the same time Ana was killed. Surveillance footage showed Basil leaving the building and returning shortly before 9 a.m. with coffee. The cup was later found in his apartment, still mostly full.
Like Ana's apartment, Basil's home showed no obvious signs of forced entry or ransacking. Ballistics revealed that one of the firearms used in Ana's killing had also been used to kill Basil. What initially appeared to be one unexplained homicide was now a connected double-homicide investigation.
One Morning, Two Crime Scenes
Investigators believe Ana and Basil were killed within a relatively short window on the morning of May 11. No 911 call reported either shooting. Accounts differ on whether residents heard sounds that may have been gunfire, but no witness has publicly described seeing the killings.
There was also very little forensic evidence. Detectives said a small amount of DNA was recovered from Ana's apartment, but the scenes did not provide the kind of clear physical trail that immediately identified a perpetrator. The weapons were gone, and investigators were unable to identify every person captured by the building's lobby and elevator cameras.
At Basil's apartment, evidence suggested he may have been shot near the door before moving further inside. At Ana's apartment, the unlocked door and the mop outside raised questions that have never been answered. Did one of them see or hear something happening on the floor? Was one person the intended target and the other an unexpected witness? Or were both killings planned?
The Search for a Motive
Neither Ana nor Basil appeared to have an obvious connection to the kind of violence that ended their lives. Ana had no criminal record or known enemies. Detectives said Basil had no history of serious or violent crime and no known affiliation with a dangerous group. They knew each other as neighbors, but they were not described as close.
Investigators explored several possibilities. One theory was that Ana may have encountered something in the hallway while cleaning and was attacked because she had witnessed it. Another was that Basil may have heard or seen something and become involved. Public reporting has differed on who may have been killed first, and law enforcement has not announced a definitive sequence.
Detectives also examined whether the murders could have been connected to criminal activity in the building. NYPD Detective Stephen Minucci told CBS New York that investigators believed the case might have been connected to the drug trade in the area, not to drug activity by Ana or Basil themselves. A narcotics dog reportedly found no drugs in either apartment.
That distinction matters. There is no public evidence that Ana or Basil was involved in drug activity, and there is no confirmed public record establishing that either was targeted for reporting crime. Those possibilities remain theories, not answers.
The Peephole Video
In September 2018, law enforcement released a piece of evidence that appeared as though it might finally move the case forward: a short video recorded through an apartment peephole on the fifth floor.
The footage showed two men and one woman walking in the hallway. All three appeared to be dressed in heavy coats and knit hats, clothing that stood out on a mild May morning. Investigators asked the public to help identify them.
Police were explicit that the people in the video were not being called suspects. They were wanted for questioning because investigators needed to determine who they were, why they were on the floor, and whether they had seen or heard anything relevant.
The quality of the recording was poor, and its release did not produce the breakthrough Ana and Basil's families had hoped for. The three people have never been publicly identified.
Years Without Answers
Ana's children continued to press for attention. On the first anniversary of the murders, they held a vigil outside the Bushwick Houses, passed out flyers, and asked anyone with information to come forward. After the killings, Mireya and her brother left the apartment that had been their family home.
In 2022, the FBI announced a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to an arrest. The FBI's New York/NYPD Metro Safe Streets Task Force continues to ask for the public's help, and the case remains listed on the FBI's Seeking Information page.
The silence surrounding the case has become one of its most difficult features. Detectives have acknowledged that residents may fear the consequences of speaking publicly. But more than eight years have passed, circumstances change, and someone who was afraid in 2018 may be in a different position today.
Who Ana and Basil Were
Ana Del Valle was not simply the victim in apartment 5C. She was a mother whose Brooklyn apartment remained a multigenerational family home long after her children reached adulthood. She was retired, active in her community, and known for doing small acts of care, including cleaning the shared hallway for herself and her neighbors.
Public reporting contains far fewer details about Basil Gray's life, but that absence should not reduce him to a case file. He was 54 years old, a neighbor, and a person living an ordinary Friday morning - leaving his building, returning with coffee, and going home.
Ana and Basil deserve to be remembered for the lives they lived, not only for the violence that ended them. Their loved ones deserve answers, and the public still has a role in helping investigators find them.
Listen to Ana and Basil's Story
Ana Del Valle, 62, and Basil Gray, 54, were killed inside their separate apartments on the same floor of the Bushwick Houses in Brooklyn, New York. Ana was discovered on May 11, 2018. Basil was discovered on May 13, though investigators believe both were killed on the morning of May 11. Their murders remain unsolved.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information can contact the FBI New York Field Office at 212-384-1000, contact a local FBI office, or submit a tip online at Tips.FBI.gov. Tips can also be provided to NYPD Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477).
Please listen to Ana and Basil's story on Voices for Justice, and please share it. The peephole footage, the unidentified people captured by building cameras, or a detail that seemed unimportant in 2018 could still help move this case forward.
Listen to the Full Episode About Ana Del Valle and Basil Gray
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