New footage shows man dragging Yazmeen Williams’ body in sleeping bag using motorised scooter
On 5 July 2024, New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers were called to investigate a suspicious package found in Manhattan’s Kips Bay area. Upon arrival, they found the body of 31-year-old Yazmeen Williams concealed in a sleeping bag and placed in a trash bag, lying among a heap of garbage. The medical examiner determined that Williams had been fatally shot in the head, officially classifying her death as a homicide.
The tragic news has sparked outrage among residents of the neighbourhood where Williams had spent her life and was well-known in the community.
According to ABC7, later that day, police took Chad Irish, a 55-year-old neighbourhood resident, with a lengthy criminal record, was taken into custody for questioning.
Various accounts from neighbours paint different pictures of Yazmeen Williams’ relationships. Some neighbours informed the New York Times that Irish, who uses a power wheelchair, and Williams were a couple; others told CBS News that Williams was friends with a man who used a wheelchair. However, Williams’s family stated that they did not know Irish.
Exclusive video footage shows a man in a motorised wheelchair casually dragging what appears to be the same trash bag that contained Yazmeen Williams’ body, wrapped in a sleeping bag.
Irish was taken from the Straus Houses, a nearby public housing complex, on a stretcher on Monday, surrounded by a hostile crowd of at least 50 people, including Williams’ relatives and neighbours, who tried to attack him.
Video footage captured the chaotic scene, showing individuals hitting Irish in the head and face, while others tore his shirt and grabbed his pants as police and EMTs struggled to protect him. Amid the chaos, Nicole Williams, Yazmeen’s mother, was heard shouting: “You killed my daughter! Please kill him!” and “She didn’t deserve that. She was a good daughter. She was my best friend,” The New York Times reported.
On Tuesday, Irish faced multiple charges connected to Williams’ death, such as concealment of a human corpse, criminal possession of a weapon, and menacing. Reports indicate that he has a lengthy criminal record with 21 prior arrests since the ’90s and is currently on parole after his release from prison two years ago. Police are investigating the exact location of Williams’ murder, suspecting it might have occurred in Irish’s apartment.
Williams grew up just two blocks from where her body was found. Her mother told the New York Times, “Whoever killed her might think she was someone who didn’t have a family, that no one’s going to look out for her,” but emphasised, “This is where she grew up. Everybody knows her.” Williams graduated from Buffalo State University with a degree in criminal justice and was about to start a job at the New York City Housing Authority this week, her aunt shared with the newspaper.
Domestic violence homicides have seen an increase of 14.5 per cent, from 62 in 2021 to 71 in 2022. Intimate partner homicides have risen by 29.2 per cent, from 24 in 2021 to 31 in 2022. Intimate partner homicides rose by 29.2 per cent, increasing from 24 cases in 2021 to 31 cases in 2022. The majority of domestic violence homicide victims were female, accounting for 59.5 per cent (508 out of 854) of the total victims.
