The death of Julio Ramirez — last seen at Hell’s Kitchen Ritz Bar and Lounge on April 21 before being found dead on the Lower East Side, his bank accounts emptied — is being linked by the Office of the District Attorney to another gay man’s suspicious death. The mother of the second victim told W42ST that the two cases may also be connected to at least a dozen similar attacks in which the person targeted survived.
Early on May 28 — less than five weeks after Ramirez died — 33-year-old John Umberger, a political consultant from Washington DC, left The Q nightclub with two unidentified men. Family and friends, concerned that he wasn’t responding to their messages, alerted authorities that he was missing.
Umberger was found dead on June 1 in an apartment in an Upper East Side townhouse belonging to his employer, Donald Trump impeachment lawyer Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice. Umberger was its director of diplomacy and political programs. His mobile phone and credit card had been stolen and more than $25,000 was missing from his bank accounts.
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