NYPD identifies Jayqwan Hamilton, Robert Demaio, and Jacob Barroso as suspects in 2022 gay bar killings
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: In a breakthrough, the New York Police Department has released the names of suspects in NYC gay bar killings. The officials are looking for Jayqwan Hamilton, Robert Demaio, and Jacob Barroso in connection to the homicides of John Umberger, 33, and Julio Ramirez, 25, who died in the 2022 attack. The spokesperson for the NYPD said that the authorities request the public to come forward and share any information related to the named suspects. According to the police, all three men in question are locals.
Victims Umberger and Ramirez were both found dead and their accounts were emptied after they visited gay bars in the city’s lively Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood last spring. The records show that both had left the bars with at least one unknown person and with help of facial recognition the perpetrators got access to their phones, and their bank accounts were drained.
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‘Drug-facilitated theft'
In March, the medical examiner’s office confirmed their deaths as homicides, triggered by a ‘drug-facilitated theft.' The investigators found multiple drugs in their systems, including lidocaine, cocaine, and fentanyl. A spokesperson for the NYPD further stated that the accused Hamilton, Demaio, and Barroso are being investigated in a wider ‘citywide robbery pattern, including a total of 17 incidents. The official shared that robberies and deaths related to Ramirez and Umberger’s case occurred between September 19, 2021, and August 28, 2022.
Umberger’s body was found in an Upper East Side apartment in June, and he was last seen alive leaving a Hell’s Kitchen nightclub with three unidentified men. The second victim Julio Ramirez was found dead in the back of a taxi after a night at another Hell’s Kitchen bar.
'They are drugging people and taking advantage of people'
"I know that no one is safe until these people are off the streets and that I know for sure," Umberger's mother Linda Clary said, reports CBS News. "I'm feeling that we are moving in the right direction. This is just one step in the process because we want to make sure these people don't hurt anyone else, and they've hurt too many people already,” Clary added.
Earlier, City Councilman Erik Bottcher said, "They are drugging people and taking advantage of people who are already very intoxicated or under the influence, and they're gaining access to their electronic banking accounts."
This is a developing story. MEAWW will keep you updated.