Suspects arrested in connection with overdose deaths at LGBTQ+ bars in Manhattan

NEW YORK — The second of three suspects publicly identified by the NYPD last weekend has turned himself in to authorities in connection with the overdose deaths of two men at LGBTQ+ bars in Manhattan last year.

Robert Demaio, 34, of Brooklyn, turned himself in to authorities Monday morning after an indictment was issued in the death of John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant who was found dead last May, senior officials said. police officers.

Demaio is one of at least two men seen going in and out of the Upper East Side apartment where Umberger was staying the night of her murder, according to officials. He, along with Jayqwan Hamilton, were also allegedly seen in videos recovered from Demaio’s phone. In the background, an unconscious Umberger can reportedly be seen.

Detectives were reportedly able to link Demaio and Hamilton to the crime through video evidence, as well as rental car records linking the former to a red Dodge Durango he drove the night of Umberger’s death.

Demaio turned himself in to police two days after the arrest of Jacob Barroso, a 30-year-old man from New Britain, Connecticut. Both men face charges of murder, robbery, grand theft and conspiracy. Hamilton is still on the run.

Barroso’s charges stem from the death of Julio Ramírez, a 25-year-old Brooklyn social worker who was murdered last April.

Police tracking the work of a large robbery ring identified the three men Saturday in connection with the deaths of Ramirez and Umberger, who, after a night in Hell’s Kitchen, were found dead of acute intoxication. The Medical Examiner’s Office said multiple drugs were found in his systems, including fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and lidocaine.

The three men are believed to be part of “Robbery Pattern 188”. Police said this team is responsible for at least 17 burglaries in the county, mostly in the Village and Hell’s Kitchen.

The leading theory is that the victims were targeted for money, not their sexual orientation, but the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force continues to investigate the potential bias factor as a precaution, officials said.

Two police sources said there have been at least four suspects arrested in connection with the robberies, but no arrests had been made in connection with the killings before Saturday.

THERE WOULD BE A SECOND INVESTIGATION

A second investigation, known as “Robbery Pattern 90”, is believed to involve a different team that robbed 26 people. There are multiple suspects in that case, which is going before a Manhattan jury, law enforcement officials said. A spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

An NYPD spokesman declined to immediately comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

The two law enforcement officials said the slaying of acclaimed New York City fashion designer Kathryn Marie Gallagher, resulting from drug-facilitated death, may be part of the Robbery Pattern 90. The The medical examiner’s office said last week that Gallagher died of acute poisoning from the combined effects of alcohol, fentanyl, ethanol and p-fluorofentanyl.

The 35-year-old internationally recognized designer, who had more than two dozen collections under her own Katie Gallagher label and appeared at Fashion Week in New York and Paris, died in July 2022. She had been working on a collection for fall of 2022 when she was found dead in her Eldridge Street apartment.

RAMÍREZ, SOCIAL WORKER FOUND IN A TAXI

The medical examiner’s office said in early March that both Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, and Umberger, a 33-year-old consultant, died from lethal combinations of fentanyl, cocaine, lidocaine and ethanol found in their blood. The New York police have said that it was the lidocaine that would have ultimately incapacitated them.

Ramirez also had heroin in his blood, the medical examiner’s office found. He determined that both men died from drug-facilitated robbery, suggesting that they were drugged for that purpose. Both had their bank accounts emptied.

Ramírez was found in a taxi in the early morning hours of April 21, 2022. He had last been seen leaving the Ritz Bar and Lounge on West 46th Street with a group of men and they all got into a taxi, although Ramírez was alone in the cab. back seat when the driver realized she was unconscious. The taxi driver found a policeman to report to the passenger that he was unresponsive and Ramírez was pronounced dead at a hospital. Neither his wallet nor his phone were on him.

Later, relatives say they found $20,000 missing from their accounts.

UMBERGER: HIS MOTHER ALERTED OF THE DISAPPEARANCE

Umberger was found dead in late May of an apparent drug overdose at the Upper East Side home of his employer, where he was staying. Surveillance video showed him leaving the Q NYC club on Eighth Avenue, with several men supporting him. They also stole money from his bank account. Further details about that timeline are unclear.

However, his mother alerted the police to his disappearance and Umberger was found on June 1. She said her phone and her credit cards were missing, along with $25,000 from her bank account.

Umberger’s mother, Linda Clary, said Wednesday that the allegations give her “some sense of affirmation” regarding the circumstances of her son’s death.

“These people are predators and they look for people who are alone, and they are like a pack of hyenas that prey on the most vulnerable or isolated person,” Clary said.

NYC ROBBING TEAMS LINKED TO MYSTERY DRUGS AND DEATHS

Authorities have said the deaths appear to be part of a series of people who were poisoned with narcotics in what investigators say were plots by criminal gangs to incapacitate and rob people in New York bars and nightclubs.

The killings, at least five in all, according to police, date back months and appear to be the work of different teams, operating independently but using similar tactics, police and prosecutors said in a December update.

The men surreptitiously slip dangerous levels of drugs to knock out the victims, then take their wallets and phones, sometimes using their digital banking information to empty their accounts, authorities said.

In an earlier incident, Nurbu Sherpa, a 29-year-old chef, was found dead on the sidewalk after leaving a bar where he had been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Other men have come forward with stories about how they were drugged by strangers and woke up to find they had no money.

Many of the crimes remain unsolved, but the Manhattan district attorney previously announced that a suspect, Allen Kenwood of the Bronx, had been charged with murder in the death of Sherpa and in the murder of 26-year-old Ardijan Berisha.

Berisha, of South Salem, New York, and a friend passed out on the sidewalk in July 2022 after drinking at a bar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Kenwood drugged his two victims with fentanyl, prosecutors said, and then robbed them. He is charged in three other cases in which the victims survived. The status of his case was unclear Wednesday.

Anyone with information about the theft patterns is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.