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Ralph Keppler, 29, of Lynbrook, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced.
Following his guilty plea, Keppler was remanded and is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on Friday, Jan. 24, when he is expected to receive a term of between 22 years to life in prison.
Singas said that on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, Theresa Kiel - who had been in a business dispute with Keppler - was walking towards her apartment on New York Avenue in Long Beach when she was attacked.
Kiel was inside the entrance corridor to the apartment complex when she was attacked by Keppler and struck several times on the head and face with a metal barbell. Singas said Kiel suffered severe brain damage, a shattered skull, a depressed right eye, and lost teeth.
According to Singas, Kiel was transported to South Nassau Communities Hospital following the attack and was in a vegetative state until she passed away on Nov. 10, 2018 at the age of 56.
Keppler fled the scene and returned to his Lynbrook tom that he shared with Kiel’s daughter, after the attack.
Prosecutors said that before the murder, Kiel’s daughter had purchased a GPS tracking device that was placed on her mother’s car.
Keppler then set up email alerts that notified her when her mother’s car was in the vicinity of her home or place of work. Kiel’s daughter also called a Long Beach taxi company on the night of the murder, the same taxi company that picked up Keppler in the vicinity of the murder scene.
Keppler, a New York City correction officer, was arrested at Rikers Island by members of the Long Beach Police Department on Jan. 24 last year on attempted murder charges. Those were upgraded when Kiel passed away. He’s since been fired by the Department of Correction.
Kiels daughter was arrested on Nov. 11 last year when her involvement in the murder was discovered by investigators. She is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, Jan. 6.
“Ralph Keppler stalked Theresa Kiel for more than a week and then brutally attacked her outside her Long Beach home, leaving the woman in a persistent vegetative state until she succumbed to her injuries nearly two years later,” Singas said.
“This defendant was remarkably calculating in his plan to murder Theresa Kiel. Thanks to the hard work of the Long Beach Police Department, Nassau County Police Department’s Electronics Squad and my prosecutors, we were able to unravel this plot and hold this defendant accountable for this senseless murder.”
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