Final Suspect in Hell's Kitchen Murders Apprehended
The final suspect, Jayqwan Hamilton, wanted in connection with the 2022 robbery and drugging deaths of two men leaving gay clubs in Hell's Kitchen, was apprehended Monday, according to two law enforcement sources, reports PIX 11 News.
Hamilton, 35, was found more than two weeks after the NYPD released his photo and the pictures of two other suspects accused of being his accomplices. Jacob Barroso and Robert Demaio were accused of murder and robbery in the Hell's Kitchen cases in early April. Both men turned themselves in to police a short time after their photos were released to the media.
PIX 11 News writes "Hamilton, the alleged ringleader, was expected to be charged with felony murder in connection with the drugging death of Brooklyn social worker Julio Ramirez, 25, who was found dead in the back of a cab on April 21, 2022. Ramirez, who had a dual Master's degree from the University of Buffalo, was last seen getting into a taxi with three men outside The Ritz Club on West 46th Street. Ninety minutes later, Ramirez was dead of an apparent overdose. His family discovered that $17,000 had been cleaned out of his bank account."
He is also expected to be be charged with felony murder in connection with the drugging death of political consultant John Umberger, 33, who was last seen leaving The Q on Eighth Avenue on May 28, 2022. "Surveillance video showed Umberger being led by two men to a car outside The Q. Other footage showed men going with him into a townhouse owned by Umberger's boss on East 61st Street. Umberger had $22,000 cleared out of his bank and credit card accounts. He was found dead several days later during a wellness check.
Both Ramirez and Umberger had a fatal mix of fentanyl, lidocaine, and other drugs in their systems, according to the medical examiner's office," adds PIX 11 News.
"The homicides last spring drew wide attention to a danger that has long stalked New York's nightlife: the use of easily obtainable drugs to incapacitate, rob and sometimes kill," wrote the New York Times in March.
"John Umberger, 33, and Julio Ramirez, 25, were killed after they left bars in Hell's Kitchen in what the medical examiner's office ruled were murders committed in the course of "drug-facilitated theft."