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A man sexually violated a corpse on a New York City subway train after stealing from the body, becoming the second of two people to rob that particular dead person, authorities said recently.
One of the more grotesque US crime stories of late unfolded on a southbound R train near the Whitehall Street station in Manhattan at about 12.20am on Wednesday, when “an unidentified individual had sexual contact with an unconscious and unresponsive adult male” in plain view of surveillance cameras, according to a police statement.
The police’s statement did not elaborate and did not identify the attacker or the victim – though they released surveillance photos of a suspect carrying a black backpack while wearing a blue baseball cap, a black hooded jacket, a yellow hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and red and white sneakers.
Nonetheless, a poster distributed to transit workers alleged that the man wanted in the case had engaged in sexual intercourse with “a dead human body”, as the New York City news website Gothamist reported. The poster, which was reviewed by the Guardian as well, alleged that investigators had probable cause to arrest a 51-year-old man identified as Carlos Garcia – whose last known address is in the Bronx – on a count of sexual misconduct of a dead human body.
Gothamist, citing police, also reported that the man identified in the wanted poster as Garcia could be seen on surveillance footage taking items from the pockets of the dead person before violating the corpse and fleeing.
That attack marked the second time the dead person – who was described as a man – had been stolen from in less than an hour. At about 10.48pm on Tuesday, police said a woman approached the late man, removed unspecified property from him and then left.
Police released surveillance images of a suspect in that initial robbery, which showed a woman wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt, black pants and a black baseball cap.
A police spokesperson would not comment on the allegations of the wanted poster first reported on by Gothamist and later seen by the Guardian.
Another official on Saturday morning said there had not been any arrests made in the case. Police said anyone with useful information can submit it to New York City’s Crimestoppers website.
Wednesday morning’s case of necrophilia on the subway not only provided a graphically documented instance of a sexual disorder psychiatrists assume to be among the rarest. It also reignited a discussion about the safety of the New York City subway system that in some quarters is ongoing.
Statistics generally show violence on the subway is relatively rare, though high-profile cases have the tendency to unnerve the public.
For instance, in December, a 57-year-old woman named Debrina Kawam died after being set on fire while sleeping on a train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn. Days later, 45-year-old Joseph Lynskey was pushed in front of an oncoming train at Manhattan’s 18th Street station but survived.
