Edwin Gaynor, the former catholic school teacher and coach implicated in a slew of sexual abuse cases throughout Westchester, has died, the Review has learned.
Gaynor’s death—just weeks before the Ossining resident was scheduled for a deposition—has thrown a wrench into the proceedings of the Child Victims Act lawsuits that have been filed against him. Now, the case will have to proceed without any testimony from the man who has been accused of molestation by more than 35 plaintiffs.
Gaynor, 87, was found dead in his apartment on May 2 by Paul Puccini, a retired Mount Vernon police detective tasked with serving the accused sexual abuser with court documents pertaining to the lawsuits that named Gaynor, the Archdiocese of New York and several local catholic schools as being complicit in a decades-long plot to cover up Gaynor’s sexual abuse.
Puccini estimated that Gaynor had been dead for some time before his body was discovered.
“After a few seconds, I was able to smell the scent of a dead body. As a retired police detective, I have been around decaying corpses before and recognized the smell,” wrote Puccini in an affidavit. “I then walked about five to six feet into the apartment and saw his dead body … he looked like he was turning black and in the beginning stages of decaying.”
The retired detective also noted that there was blood on Gaynor’s face and hand.
Puccini had been at Gaynor’s residence to serve him with documents notifying the former teacher that he had been held in contempt of court for refusing to sit for a deposition and ordering Gaynor to appear at the Ossining Town Court on May 16 to submit his testimony.
Since legal action was initially taken against Gaynor in November 2019, numerous plaintiffs have come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct over a period of time that stretched more than four decades and included stops at local parishes, including Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scarsdale and Holy Rosary in Hawthorne.
The former teacher and coach had repeatedly refused to testify in his own defense, citing poor health and advanced age. In October 2020, he was held in contempt of court for the first time. Gaynor’s refusals to be deposed, court shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and unsuccessful motions by his co-defendants to have him declared unfit to defend himself in the civil suit, led to several delays in the legal proceedings.
Barbara Hart, who represents several of the plaintiffs on behalf of Grant & Eisenhofer, P.A., had previously lobbied the courts to bring a swift resolution to the case given the advancing age of Gaynor and many of the alleged victims.
In May 2021, Kevin Swayne—one of the first accusers to claim Gaynor had molested him 1964—died at the age of 63. In response to Swayne’s death, Hart penned a letter to state Supreme Court Justice Steven M. Jaeger petitioning the court to compel Gaynor to testify in his own defense.
“Plaintiffs in other actions … are also elderly and/or have distressing diagnoses or serious medical conditions,” Hart wrote. “There will be significant delay and prejudice to all of the other consolidated plaintiffs in pursuing their independent actions.”
The latest contempt order—issued by Judge Leonard D. Steinman on April 29—would have been the most forceful to date, as Steinman ruled that an arrest warrant would have been issued for Gaynor had he not appeared for the May 16 deposition.
In light of Gaynor’s death, counsel for the plaintiffs has filed a motion asking for the court’s permission to search Gaynor’s home for any material relevant to the case, arguing that Gaynor—who had previously offered written admissions of two counts of molestation—had been in contact with several of his alleged victims over the years.
“Indeed, at a minimum, Gaynor clearly tracked and wrote to many of the survivors and admitted to keeping copies of letters he sent; his records may fill out those facts, as multiple Plaintiffs testified to receiving letters which they no longer have,” read the motion. “Unfortunately, Gaynor’s testimony has now been lost, but his documents are still able to be preserved, though this window is slowly closing.”
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