Two men who have been fatally drugged in New York City whereas leaving homosexual bars final yr and whose financial institution accounts had been drained have been each homicide victims, in accordance to the native chief health worker’s workplace.
The health worker mentioned Friday that the deaths of social employee Julio Ramirez, 25, and political advisor John Umberger, 33, have been attributable to a “drug-facilitated theft”, NBC Information reported.
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Friday’s announcement got here amid a New York police investigation right into a sequence of robberies and assaults tied to golf equipment and bars in Hell’s Kitchen, a neighborhood in town identified for its nightlife.
Ramirez was found useless in a taxi final April after surveillance cameras caught him leaving a venue and getting into a taxi with three different men at about 3.15am. According to NBC New York, Ramirez was alone in the backseat at 4.10am when the driving force approached a police officer to report that Ramirez was unresponsive.
He was pronounced useless at a close-by hospital lower than an hour later.
Ramirez’s household mentioned that his cellphone had been taken and its password modified, and that $20,000 was stolen from his financial institution accounts.
In Friday’s announcement, the health worker mentioned that Ramirez’s dying was attributable to “acute intoxication by the mixed results of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, heroin, cocaine, lidocaine and ethanol”.
Umberger was visiting town a number of weeks later, in late Might, when he died with the identical mixture of medication in his system, in accordance to the health worker. His physique was found inside his boss’s East Aspect townhouse, 4 days after he left a nightclub in Hell’s Kitchen, the native information outlet WPIX reported.
In accordance to his mom, surveillance footage confirmed him in between two men whereas leaving the nightclub and getting into a automotive. Umberger additionally had about $20,000 transferred out of his financial institution accounts and his credit playing cards had been maxed out, his mom added.
New York metropolis councilmember Erik Bottcher, who represents Hell’s Kitchen, had urged the Manhattan district lawyer to swiftly cost these liable for the deaths of Ramirez and Umberger.
“We demand justice for the individuals who murdered Julio Ramirez and John Umberger,” Bottcher mentioned in a textual content message reviewed by NBC.
He added: “As we method the one-year anniversary of their murders, the ache skilled by their households, pals and our total neighborhood has solely been exacerbated by the truth that their killers haven’t been introduced to justice.”
A spokesperson from the district lawyer’s workplace advised NBC that an investigation centering on Ramirez, Umberger and others who died equally is “ongoing”.
