The NYPD says the mysterious death of a man who was found with a rope around in his neck in Central Park last year was a homicide.
The body of Elvis Garcia, 26, was discovered in A Native Meadow near East Drive and East 65th St early on the morning of 22 September 2021.
“Upon arrival, responding officers encountered an unconscious and unresponsive 26-year-old male lying face up on the grass... with a rope tied around his neck,” the NYPD said at the time.
“EMS also responded to the scene and pronounced him deceased.”
No further details were released until Friday, when the NYPD released Mr Garcia’s name and said they had deemed his death a homicide.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.
Sources told the New York Post last year that a black rope found around Mr Garcia’s neck was from fencing used in Central Park.
According to a 2021 report, the number of homeless people to die by homicide in New York City has increased three-fold since 2018.
Twenty-two were killed in the 2021 fiscal year, compared to seven in 2018.
In February, Mayor Eric Adams announced a plan to remove homeless people from the city’s sprawling subway system in response to assaults and other aggressive behaviour.
The next month, he proposed a $171m investment to provide 1,400 beds in temporary shelters. The plan was criticised for being light on detail.
In its most recent estimate in January 2021, the city said about 1,100 people were living in parks and on the streets — a number seen by many advocates as an undercount.
Most of the roughly 50,000 homeless people in the city stay in shelters.
In March, Gerald Brevard III was arrested and charged with stalking and shooting five homeless men – two fatally – as they slept on the streets in Washington DC and New York over a 10-day period.
