Mother of murdered son in gay bar slayings finds long-awaited peace in sentencing
- NBC News
- Jan 19
- 1 min read
Linda Clary's son, John Umberger, was one of two men murdered in a drugging and robbery scheme that plagued New York City's gay bars in 2021 and 2022.
Linda Clary had reached her breaking point. The grieving mother stormed out of a Manhattan courtroom one day in February during closing arguments in the three-week murder trial of the men accused of killing her son and another young man.
In the restroom down the hall, she fell to her knees, praying for her son, the jurors, and the three men on trial in the killings. As she prayed, another mother entered — the mother of one of the defendants, Jacob Barroso. “I immediately stood up, and she said, ‘Are you all right?’ and I said, ‘No, I’m not,’” Clary said.
The two mothers embraced.“It was two moms who are in agony and pain, coming together and somehow appreciating each other’s agony and pain,” she said through tears. “And I feel like it was truly a divine, other-kingdomly moment that words cannot describe.”
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