Linda Clary left her Georgia home four weeks ago to watch the Manhattan trial of two men accused of robbing and fatally drugging her son, John Umberger, in 2022. They and one other man allegedly targeted young, gay men at LGBTQ+ clubs in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City with deadly results. Some victims survived to testify.
John Umberger, 33, was a political consultant based in Washington, D.C. who was visiting New York City.
Prosecutors said Jayqwan Hamilton, Robert Demaio and Jacob Barroso used a toxic combination of fentanyl, lidocaine, and cocaine to incapacitate their victims, with two men dying during the robbery spree.
"It is like reliving John's death every day in court," Linda Clary told me, "and that is painful."
John Umberger, 33, was a political consultant from Washington, D.C. visiting New York City on May 28, 2022. In one of many surveillance images presented at trial, prosecutors said defendants Jayqwan Hamilton, wearing a red hat, and Robert Demaio, in yellow sneakers, stood on the corner of W. 48 Street and Eighth Avenue outside The Q Club and watched Umberger, who is seen on the left side of the photo.
Surveillance image shows victim John Umberger on extreme left outside the Q club on W. 48 Street while 2 defendants allegedly stood on corner in red hood and yellow sneakers.
Police found other footage that allegedly showed Umberger leaving the area with the two men. Prosecutors charged later that night, Robert Demaio took a selfie video and panned the camera to show a lifeless John Umberger on a bed inside an Upper East Side townhouse, while Jayqwan Hamilton was enjoying a drink and a smoke on a terrace outside.
Selfie footage on Robert Demaio’s cell phone gave a tour of Upper East Side apartment where victim John Umberger lay lifeless on a bed.
Linda Clary said she had to leave the courtroom when that video was played.
Surveillance allegedly captured the two suspects leaving the townhouse and driving away in a red Dodge Durango.
Another cell phone clip allegedly showed defendant Jayqwan Hamilton having a drink and a smoke at townhouse where John Umberger was later found dead.
At some point, John Umberger's bank account was cleaned out of at least $22,000, with the robbers using facial-recognition phone technology. Jayqwan Hamilton was allegedly seen with an associate going on a shopping spree in downtown Manhattan in the trendy SoHo district. His purchases allegedly included expensive sneakers from Foot Locker.
Surveillance image from store in downtown Manhattan allegedly showed Jayqwan Hamilton and associate shopping with victim's credit card.
Detectives eventually learned Umberger was one of two deadly druggings tied to gay clubs in Hell's Kitchen, with 25-year old Julio Ramirez targeted earlier in the spring of 2022. Ramirez, a Brooklyn social worker with a dual Master's degree from the University of Buffalo, was found dead in the back of a taxi in lower Manhattan on April 21, 2022.
This was about ninety minutes after he was seen leaving the Ritz bar on West 46th Street with three men.
Julio Ramirez, a 25 year old social worker, had dual Master’s degrees from the University of Buffalo.
An upbeat Julio Ramirez had taken a "selfie" in the bathroom at the Ritz just before 2:30 a.m. on April 21. Jayqwan Hamilton and Jacob Barroso are charged with his murder. A combination of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, and heroin were found in Ramirez' body. His bank account was drained of $17,000, with the robbers only leaving $6.00 or so as balance. Julio Ramirez's parents, immigrants from El Salvador, were devastated, along with Ramirez's brother, Carlos, who discovered that Julio's accounts had been cleared of cash.
‘Club Drug’ victim Julio Ramirez took a last selfie inside the Ritz bar on W. 46 Street in early hours of 4/21/22.
There were other gay men drugged and ripped off in 2022, but they survived.
One of them was a film student studying at NYU.
Another victim, a Los Angeles-based businessman, was allegedly wheeled on a luggage cart into his room at the Union Square Hotel, before he was robbed.
In 2022, I had learned police were investigating two, different robbery crews targeting nightclubs. The second crew, allegedly headed by Kenwood Allen of the Bronx, was focused on the nightlife in downtown Manhattan. Five deaths were later tied to Allen's crew. More than 40 people were robbed during the spree by the two crews. The NYPD and City Hall were initially reluctant to speak about the pattern, just as New York nightlife was reemerging after two years of the COVID19 pandemic.
Umberger's mother, Linda Clary, publicly pushed the Office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to take action in the gay 'club drugging' murder cases in November 2022.
Clary credited retired NYPD Detective Randy Rose of Manhattan North Homicide with putting together the pieces in the gay 'club drugging' investigation in Hell's Kitchen.
"He is 100% who put it together," Clary said. "Otherwise, I don't think we'd be here."
A defense attorney for Jayqwan Hamilton, the accused ringleader in the gay club druggings, told the jury Hamilton may be guilty of transferring money out of accounts but he did not give fatal doses of any drugs to the victims.
When I was reporting on the two, different robbery crews for PIX11 News, I learned at least seven people had been killed during drug-facilitated robberies that began in late 2021. One victim targeted at the downtown clubs was a student at Rutgers University who was dumped on a sidewalk in the Bronx.
The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg initially charged the Kenwood Allen crew with two murders in December 2022. The three men accused in connection with the deaths of Julio Ramirez and John Umberger were arrested in the spring of 2023. Kenwood Allen was later charged with three, additional murders tied to toxic drug cocktails, including the death of fashion designer Katie Gallagher.
As John Umberger's mother waited for a Manhattan jury's decision, she thanked the police, prosecutors and local city residents who have made her stay here comforting, under difficult circumstances.
"New York is the greatest city in the world, I think," Clary said.
#UPDATE: Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert Demaio found guilty of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in the 2022 fatal club druggings that left two gay men dead.
Comentários