The discovery of a decomposing body dumped on a Manhattan street was the first clue in a horrific murder case that stunned the city last week – and infuriated neighbors of victim Yazmeen Williams, who police say was killed by an ex-convict in a chair. wheels and armed with a pistol, with decades in prison. long criminal record.
On July 5, residents of a block of Kips Bay on E. 27th St., near Third. Ave. complaining of the smell coming from a large package on a wheeled cart led responding officers to the human remains inside a blue sleeping bag wrapped in a large plastic bag. The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was not possible to determine its sex.
As officers moved the body, a single bullet landed in the back of the head.
It wasn’t until family members of 31-year-old Buffalo State College graduate Yazmeen Williams reported her missing that NYPD detectives were able to connect the body in the bag to the vibrant, attractive young woman who had lived nearby for a time. Straus Houses on E. 28th St.
“My birthday is at the end of the month. She was saying, ‘Mom, let’s go out! Let’s celebrate,’” the victim’s heartbroken mother, Nicole Williams, told the Daily News. “She is a wonderful daughter.”
Much has been made about how Williams’ bright future was cut short. At a news conference, Mayor Adams and Vice Mayor Maria Torres-Springer said Williams had recently been hired to work in the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
“Who would do this to her?” Williams’ shocked aunt, Nisha Ramirez, asked on July 8 what the first day of her niece’s new job would have been.
The answer came quickly.
As detectives investigated the high-profile crime, a frightening new clue emerged: police had surveillance footage of a man in a motorized wheelchair dragging a sleeping bag on a cart down the street where Williams was found.
Residents of the Straus Houses immediately became suspicious of 55-year-old Chad Irish, who lived on E. 28th St. near Second Ave. — especially after video of the man in a wheelchair was widely viewed on social media .
Irish, who used a wheelchair, has an extensive criminal history dating back to 1985. His convictions include robbery, assault and drug possession, deputies said.
In April 1994, he was charged with attempted murder and arson for trying to blow up his uncle’s Bronx home, dislodging a gas line leading to two propane tanks and causing an explosion. He was ultimately convicted of attempted arson and sentenced to three years in prison.
Most notably, Williams had been living with Irish since November. She told family members that the older man with a checkered past was just a friend. But, much to their relief, she had recently told her family she would be moving.
“I could feel it. I kept saying, ‘She needs to get out of that house,’” Essie Graham said Tuesday of her murdered granddaughter. “I wanted someone to go over there and make a lot of noise. But no one really took it seriously.”
As police built their case against Irish as a likely suspect, residents of Straus Houses and friends of the victim began repeatedly confronting the ex-convict about his murder.
Irish responded by pulling out a gun – twice – at a neighbor last Monday.
“I said ‘Hey, what did you do to that young lady?’” narrated Antowne Frazier, 47. “He pulled it out from under the seat like he was sitting on it.”
After a second confrontation with Irish at Bellevue South Park that day, Frazier called 911, also reporting the earlier incident, and began chasing Irish.
“When I chased, everyone in the park followed.”
Irish managed to enter his building as a large, angry mob formed in the street outside. The crowd soon grew to include members of Williams’ family, who were tending to his memorial less than two blocks away when the horde of people caught their attention.
By this time, the police had already arrived to take Irish into custody. Loading the suspect onto an ambulance stretcher, police and medics had to fight their way through the angry crowd while carrying Irish, who was being mocked and booed.
“Fuck you! Fuck you! one woman screamed as officers contained the crowd and loaded Irish into a waiting ambulance.
Irish was charged with concealment of a human corpse and two counts of weapons possession and menacing, but it wasn’t until Wednesday that he was charged with Williams’ murder.
“I did nothing. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who is Yazmeen?” a defiant Irishman told reporters as he was taken from the 13th Precinct to Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday night. “They said I did something to someone. I did nothing.”
At their arraignment Thursday, prosecutors said they had more frightening video of Irish yelling at Williams in the hallway of his apartment building on June 26. that he would shoot her.
Detectives believe Irish made good on her threat on July 1, several days before she was found.
One theory detectives are investigating is whether the murder stemmed from a drug disputesaid a high-ranking police source.
If Irish is convicted of murder, he could face life in prison, Assistant District Attorney Tricia Phillips said.
The same camera that captured Irish’s threat recorded Williams leaving the apartment he shared with his killer on June 30 while throwing trash in the building’s trash chute, prosecutors said.
She returned to the apartment and never left.
“God didn’t call it home,” Williams’ grandmother said. “This guy did it. He is the devil.
