Julio Ramirez and John Umberger were last seen alive leaving gay bars in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood last year.
Two gay men who ended up dead with their bank accounts drained after leaving New York City bars last year were both homicide victims, authorities said Friday.
The men died in separate incidents.
In November, the New York police said that detectives were investigating a string of robberies and assaults connected to night spots in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
Investigators wanted to know more about the deaths of Julio Ramirez and John Umberger and if they were among “several incidents where individuals have been victims of either robberies or assault,” police said at the time.
The deaths of both men have been ruled homicides caused by a “drug-facilitated theft,” the Office of Chief Medical Examiner said Friday.
Ramirez’s death in April was caused by “acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, heroin, cocaine, lidocaine and ethanol,” the medical examiner said.
The 25-year-old social worker was found dead in the back of a taxi an hour after being seen leaving the Ritz Bar and Lounge with three unidentified men on April 20.
His family has said that approximately $20,000 was drained from his bank accounts and that they believed he was drugged.
A month later, Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant, was found dead after he and two unidentified men left another popular Hell’s Kitchen gay bar, the Q.
The unidentified men transferred about $20,000 out of Umberger’s bank accounts and maxed out his credit cards, his mother, Linda Clary, said. She also believes her son was drugged.
Umberger’s death was caused by “acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, cocaine, lidocaine and ethanol,” the medical examiner said.