Who will Bury the Unidentified Homeless Victim Murdered on the Bowery Last Weekend?
Photo: Karlin Chan
New Yorkers awoke ten days ago to shocking news that four homeless men on the Bowery were brutally beaten to death while sleeping by an attacker with a three-foot piece of scrap metal (and another seriously injured). It later came out that 24-year-old Bronx native, Randy Santos, himself homeless, perpetrated the attack, and boasts a lengthy rap sheet of violent crimes that the city seemed to let slide.
As the four victims were identified, families of two, Nazario Vazquez Villegas and Anthony Manson, stepped forward to claim their remains. 83-year-old Chuen Kwok had no family, so concerned residents fearing burial in a Hart Island Potter’s field arranged for the return of his remains to Chinatown for a proper service and burial.
Which leaves unidentified victim number four. If no family comes forward, he will eventually end up on Hart Island. I think every elected official, from the Mayor down, should reach into their pockets to pay for his funeral and burial as penance.
Talk the talk, now walk the walk.
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