() — Before Jordan Neely died on a New York City subway car this week, he was known for his fast-paced Michael Jackson dance moves that entertained many; however, he struggled with the trauma of his mother’s murder at a young age.
“He told me how shocked he was by his mother’s death. He revealed that she was murdered and her body was put in a suitcase,” Moses Harper, an artist who knew Neely, told .
Harper and Neely became fast friends after meeting in 2009. When she took him under her wing, Neely opened up to her about how hard it was to lose his mother as a teenager.
“It traumatized him. She hadn’t expected that, the brutal way in which she was killed. That had a big impact on him. The brutality behind it traumatized him,” Harper told . “This child has cried in front of me. That hurt him in his heart.”
On Monday afternoon, Neely died after a Navy veteran strangled him to death in a subway car after Neely boarded the train and yelled at the passengers that he was hungry, thirsty and sick of having nothing. A witness told that Neely, who was homeless according to a source familiar with his case, did not hurt anyone or was seen armed.
Jordan Neeley in a file photo.
The 30-year-old man’s death was ruled a homicide, but that does not mean intent or culpability, which is a matter for the criminal justice system to consider, said a spokesman for the City of Chicago’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. NY.
The last time Harper saw Neely was in 2016 when she ran into him on the subway and saw that he was homeless as he asked passengers for food. “I’ve never seen him like this before,” she said.
Harper, who described Neely as a kind and sweet soul, said people from all over the world have contacted her about her death.
“It has people torn apart. Members of our circle are texting me. They’re finding out and they’re crying, they don’t know what to think,” Harper said.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating Neely’s death, sparking protests in New York City demanding justice in the case, in which no charges have been filed days after the slaying.
“As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the medical examiner’s report, evaluate all available video and photographs, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records,” said Doug Cohen, a spokesman for the Office of the Manhattan District Attorney. he said in a statement.
“I don’t care if I die. […] I do not have food”
In the minutes before the fatal strangulation, Neely had been “acting erratically” but did not assault anyone on the train, according to Juan Alberto Vázquez, a witness who recorded the altercation on video.
As soon as Neely got on the train, he began yelling that he was “fed up and hungry” and “tired of not having anything,” Vázquez told .
Before he was killed, Neely said, “I don’t care if I die. I don’t care if I go to jail. I don’t have any food… I’m finished”, according to Vázquez.
At some point, Neely took off his coat and tossed it on the train floor, repeating that he was ready to go to jail and receive a life sentence, Vázquez said.
As the screaming continued, many passengers became visibly uncomfortable and moved to other parts of the train car. Neely did not appear to be armed or looking to attack anyone, Vázquez told .
A bicyclist then came up from behind Neely and choked him, and the two eventually fell to the ground, Vazquez said, noting that Neely did not interact with that passenger before the attack.
NYPD officers respond after a passenger strangled a man riding the subway. (Credit: Paul Martinka/AP)
In video recorded by Vázquez, Neely and the other man are seen on the floor of a subway car with the man’s arm wrapped around Neely’s neck. The two men were on the floor for about seven minutes, Vázquez said, adding that he began recording about three or four minutes after the strangulation began.
At some point, two other passengers approached Neely and the man holding him. One appeared to be mediating the situation while the other appeared to help the man restrain Neely, according to Vazquez.
After a while, Vázquez noticed that Neely stopped moving and talking, he said.
When police officers arrived at the subway station in midtown Manhattan before 2:30 p.m. Monday, they administered first aid to Neely, who was unconscious. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead later that day, according to a law enforcement source and an NYPD spokesperson.
has not been able to independently confirm what happened before the incident or how long Neely was restrained.
“Always Dancer”
Neely lost her mother in 2007, when she was murdered by her boyfriend in a northern New Jersey residence. The man was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for the murder of Christie Neely at her home and “dumping her body in a suitcase in the Bronx,” according to the Jersey Journal.
In the years since, Neely began to experience “some tough times” before she finished high school, said Melyssa Votta, a high school friend of Neely’s.
“I was jumping from house to house,” he told .
Through it all, Neely was “always a dancer” who was always “a really good guy,” he said.
“He’s very well known on the Internet,” Votta said. “Internationally, people have approached me looking for it.”
Neely also had a series of run-ins with the NYPD, a law enforcement source told ‘s John Miller, including 42 arrests on charges including petty theft, jumping subway turnstiles, robbery and three unprovoked assaults on women in the subway, between 2019 and 2021.
Andre Zachery, Neely’s father, noted the painful parallel in the murder of his son and his mother, reported the New York Daily News. And even though he hadn’t seen his son in four years, he praised how well Neely impersonated Michael Jackson.
“I sat him down in front of the TV and showed him the Jackson 5. […] He took on the Michael Jackson thing and really shaped it very well,” Zachery told the newspaper.
Some officials condemn Neely’s death
As of Thursday night, no charges had been filed in Neely’s death, a move that has increased demands from officials and the community for legal action.
The man who strangled Neely was identified as a 24-year-old from Queens who served in the Marine Corps, according to military and police records. He was a sergeant and served from 2017 to 2021, with his last duty assignment being at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, military records show.
Detectives interviewed him and released him, a law enforcement source told .
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Neely’s family “deserves justice.”
“I want to acknowledge how horrible it was to see a video of Jordan Neely being killed for being a passenger on subway trains,” Hochul said Thursday during a press conference. “There had to be consequences, so we’ll see how this plays out. But his family deserves justice.”
The governor added that Neely was held “until his last breath was taken from him,” describing the passenger response as “very extreme.”
Jumaane Williams, a public defender for New York City, echoed the governor’s calls for justice and demanded that charges be filed “immediately” against the person responsible for the death. The public defender’s office helps with complaints related to government services and regulations.
“To say anything else is misleading that will only further a narrative that devalues the life of a homeless black man with mental health issues and encourages an attitude of dehumanizing New Yorkers most in need,” he said.
— ‘s Sharif Paget, Brynn Gingras, Laura Ly, Maria Santana, Ray Sanchez, Omar Jimenez, Nicole Grether, Elizabeth Hartfield, Gloria Pazmino and Zenebou Sylla contributed to this report.
