By Howard Koplowitz
A homeless woman was bludgeoned to death Monday morning in a Richmond Hill Park, police and the chief medical examiner’s office said.
The woman, whose name had not yet been released by police, was described as a South Asian in her 50s.
A spokeswoman for the chief medical examiner’s office said the woman’s death was ruled a homicide caused by multiple blunt force injuries to the head.
Three women who watched as police investigated the woman’s death at Police Officer Nicholas DeMutiis Park at Liberty Avenue and 102nd Street said the woman was homeless and living in the park.
Officers arrived at 102nd Street and Liberty Avenue at around 9:25 a.m. Monday after responding to a call that the woman was not breathing, police said.
Officers later discovered she was unconscious and unresponsive and she was pronounced dead by EMS personnel, police said.
Simoa Santiago, a 102nd Street resident, said the woman was always seen in the park with a West Indian man in his late 40s or early 50s. She said the woman had been living in the park for at least two years and was unsure whether she was related to the other homeless man.
“They’re always in the park first thing in the morning and he’d be sleeping on the bench,” Santiago said.
Another woman who said the dead woman was homeless said she thought the victim had been living in the park for about five months.
“We don’t know anything about her, we just know she was here,” the woman said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
