Bronx Family Pleads for Help in Repatriating Mexican Man Killed in Fall

By Kevin Deutsch
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The family of a newly arrived Mexican immigrant killed under mysterious circumstances in the Bronx is asking for the public’s help in repatriating his body.

Gerardo Villano Juárez, 24, was found dead Thursday in the courtyard of his apartment building on Grand Concourse and East 178th Street in Mount Hope, just six weeks after his arrival in America.

NYPD investigators suspect Juárez plunged from a fire escape four flights up after slipping on a patch of ice about 5:20 a.m. Relatives have cast doubt on that theory, saying Juárez lived on the other side of the building, knew no one in the area of the fire escape, and would have had no reason to be climbing around outside windows on a bitterly cold morning.

Juárez’s cousin, Lunita Villano, said in a Facebook post Saturday that the family needs help in sending his body back to Mexico for burial.

She asked that anyone able to make a donation contact Juarez’s brother, Carmelo Villano Juárez, at 646-657-5859.

About Kevin Deutsch 265 Articles
Kevin Deutsch is a Staff Writer for Bronx Justice News covering the criminal justice system, drugs, and DNA use by law enforcement. An award-winning journalist, Deutsch is the author of the true crime books "Pill City" and "The Triangle." He has worked on staff at the Daily News, Miami Herald, Newsday, The Palm Beach Post, and The Riverdale Press. His work has also appeared in Newsweek, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Forward, The Independent, Huffington Post, Orlando Sentinel, and the New York Post, among other publications. His numerous television appearances include spots on CNN, MSNBC, and C-SPAN's BookTV. He has also been featured in The New Yorker. A Bronx resident, Deutsch hosts the true crime podcast "A Dark Turn" on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network.