WASHINGTON — At least three people were in custody in Manhattan as of Monday, facing charges in connection to a string of serial robberies and the deaths of two gay men.
According to CBS, court records show that police suspect at least five people worked together, approaching victims at bars in Manhattan, offering them drugs, and then stealing from them once they were incapacitated.
John Umberger, 33 and Julio Ramirez, 25, died about five weeks apart last spring under similar circumstances after being seen leaving popular Hell's Kitchen gay bars with strangers.
According CBS NY, police believe their deaths were part of a larger pattern of Manhattan bar patrons being robbed.
According to the NYPD, Ramirez was last seen leaving a gay bar in Hell's Kitchen with three unidentified men, and Umberger was seen leaving a different gay nightclub in Hell's Kitchen a few days before his death.
In both cases, there were fraudulent charges on their credit cards. Police sources told CBS NY that both Ramirez and Umberger's deaths are suspected to be overdose related. The medical examiner, though, has not yet determined the official causes.
"I'm grateful for the 33 years God blessed me with him, because it just was just the greatest honor to be his mother," said Linda Clary, the mother of John Umberger.
She told WUSA9 she'll remember her son as a loving and kind man.
"I miss hearing his voice, I miss being able to hug him I just miss his sunshine and his warmth," said Clary.
She told WUSA9 that he worked in D.C., and in May of 2022, he went up to New York City for business. Clary said after several days of not hearing back from him, she called the NYPD.
They found him dead inside the apartment where he was staying.
"I screamed, it was a yell of the most horrific grief and horror that any parent, mother who loses a child goes through," said Clary.
Clary told WUSA9 it does her bring her some sort of relief, but doesn't bring the one thing she wants most, her son.
To the people who took her son away from her, Clary told WUSA9 she trusts in God.
"You've presented me with the greatest challenge in my entire life, and that is to trust him and forgive you and I can only do that through his power working in me, because humanly I can't forgive them," said Clary.
"I will pray for them I do pray for them but they're not safe to be around other people," she said.