NYC NOW - Midday News: Gilgo Beach Suspect Indicted for Seventh Murder, NYPD to Monitor Stop-and-Frisk, Campaign Finance Board Explains Decision on Mayor Adams, and Migrant Teen Stabbing Death

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Rex Heuermann, the Long Island man accused in the Gilgo Beach murders, is facing charges in a seventh murder. Meanwhile, the NYPD has submitted a plan to monitor stop-and-frisk practices after a court deemed it unconstitutional over a decade ago. Also, the Campaign Finance Board is withholding public matching funds from Mayor Adams’ reelection campaign, citing his criminal indictment and campaign violations. WNYC’s Janae Pierre speaks with Paul Ryan, Executive Director of the Campaign Finance Board. Finally, the family of a migrant teen fatally stabbed in Lower Manhattan earlier this month is speaking out. WNYC’s Brittany Kriegstein has the latest developments.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, December 17th. Here's the midday news. I'm Jene Pierre. A grand jury in Suffolk County has indicted the man accused in the Gilgo Beach murders for allegedly killing a seventh person. Prosecutors say the defendant, Rex Hewerman, murdered Valerie Mack some time between September and December of 2000. They're asking.

a judge today to remand him without bail. A new indictment states that in November of 2000, three people were hunting with a dog in a wooded area of Manorville, and they discovered a black plastic bag wrapped with duct tape that contained Max's remains. An attorney for Heweman was not immediately available for comment. This is a developing story and will bring you more as more information becomes available. The NYPD says it's sent federal officials a plan to monitor whether police are violating people's rights during stop and frisk searches. That's more than a decade after a court first found the NYPD's tactics unconstitutional, in part for violating the 14th Amendment, which promises equal treatment under the law. In a hearing Monday, Councilmember Yusef Salam

says the NYPD's tactics disproportionately affected black and brown New Yorkers. The NYPD's use of stop and frisk has been the subject of significant controversy due to racial disparities amongst those subject to NYPD's investigations, racial profiling and unconstitutional policing. The 2013 federal court decision found the department's deployment of stop and frisk amounted to a form of racial profiling. The hearing also comes one year after the city passed the How Many Stops Act, which requires the NYPD track data on people at stops for low-level encounters. 53 degrees, sunny skies, and it will remain that way today with highs around 57. Stay close. There's more after the break.

The New York City Campaign Finance Board has decided it will not give Mayor Eric Adams public matching money for his next mayoral campaign, at least for right now. It's a big blow to his re-election campaign and comes as he and high-ranking members of his administration face corruption charges. The board says the decision was prompted by the mayor's criminal indictment, as well as his campaign's failure to follow the program's rules. They did not ban Adams from the program entirely, though, leaving open the chairman. chance that he could receive funds later on. I'm here with Paul Ryan. He's the executive director of the Campaign Finance Board. So what was the conversation leading up to this decision? And why did the board decide the way it did? You know, with every payment date and yesterday's board meeting and board decisions was the first of eight payment dates leading up to the June 24th, 2025 primary. And the board

considers all the relevant facts and information about all the candidates who are seeking public funds. Yesterday, the board determined that 19 candidates out of 113 established their eligibility, and they received a total of $4.8 million in public funds. But the board also determined 94 candidates have not yet established, did not establish their eligibility to receive public funds. So all in facts and information, compliance with all of our rules, city laws go into that decision-making process. How much did Mayor Adams ask for?

He would have been eligible for, I believe, approaching $4 million if he had met all of the requirements of law. But, you know, it's a fairly complicated formula because our audit staff carefully examines the claim for matching funds for every contribution submitted. So I'm not exactly sure what the dollar amount could have been, but I think it was approaching about $4 million. Okay. Why if the board feels that Adams is too problematic to receive funds now, is he not banned from receiving them at a later date? So yesterday, our board chair announced at the meeting that the board had determined, including reviewing all available information, including the details from the indictment, that there's reason to believe that the Adams campaign had engaged in

conduct detrimental to the matching funds program in violation of law, including Campaign Finance Act and board rules. That was the basis of the board's decision. And again, this was the first payment determination date of eight between now and the primary, and as our board chair made clear at yesterday's meeting, this will really be the only public statement that we're making connection with yesterday's board payment decisions. So the only candidate for mayor who did receive public money on yesterday was Scott Stringer. He was awarded a little bit more than $2 million, I believe.

What were the reasons the board decided not to award other campaigns? The most common reasons for ineligibility are the failure to reach are required threshold for contributions. So to qualify for public funds, you have to raise both a specified number of small contributions and a specified total dollar amount of those small contributions. It varies depending on the office you're seeking. But failure to reach that threshold is one common reason this early in the process to not be eligible. Another is failing to file a personal financial disclosure form with the conflict of interest board

or failure to attend some required trainings that we make. Candlets and treasurers attend or a failure to file or filing late a required statement of need to the board that demonstrates that you really need these funds this early in the process. A bunch of different reasons, and a lot of candidates were not able to meet those requirements. As of yesterday, we expect many will do so in the coming months. An attorney for the Adams campaign called the ruling yesterday, disappointing, but said that the campaign will continue to work with the board to ensure that they can access public funds at a later date. What would the board need to see in order to fund the Adams campaign again?

I'm not going to comment further on specifically with regard to the Adams campaign, but the general process that applies to all campaigns is that they receive a determination letter from our board this week, explaining the basis for an eligibility, and those who got public funds receive a letter saying that and how much they got, and they have a legal right under city law and our board rules to petition for a reconsideration of the board's decision. So candidates sometimes do that. Candidates sometimes just put their head down and do what they need to do to make themselves eligible for the January payment date, which is the next date. So there's a process to appeal, and there's a way that campaigns can just continue to work to get their paperwork and their eligibility in line to be eligible in January.

Paul Ryan is the executive director of the Campaign Finance Board. Paul, thanks so much for joining us today. Thanks for having me. The family of a 17-year-old migrant who was stabbed to death on the street in lower Manhattan earlier this month is speaking out. WMYC's Brittany Crickstein has more on the rare homicide in the financial district. remind us of what happened here. So police initially said that Kalina, who's 17, and an 18-year-old male, were on John Street near the Fulton Street subway stop in the Financial District.

This was around 7.40 p.m. on December 5th, and they encountered three other men. The group started fighting, police officials said, and according to preliminary information from the NYPD, one of the suspects stabbed the two teens. police officials have said that this group of alleged assailants may have flashed gang signs, which prompted Jeremy and his friend to approach. Police said all of this was basically caught on video, but there was some discrepancy about what was said. The two groups, what they talked to each other,

police initially said the teens were stabbed after telling the assailants they, quote, didn't speak English, prompting some people to think that maybe this was a hate crime, but police have since said that that does not appear to be the case, these just seem to be groups of teens that got into a pretty, obviously a deadly fight. Yeah. Now, the stabbing death of Yermi happened the same week, the United Healthcare CEO was shot to death in Midtown in a case that made international headlines, right? Yeah, that's right. So Yerame Colina was stabbed the day right after Brian Thompson was shot in Midtown, as police had fanned out to look for Thompson's killer. police officials at the time told me they spend the same resources on every case, though some people questioned whether that was true.

It's hard to quantify, but I will say that the NYPD did very quickly release clear photos and videos of the alleged suspects really took about the same amount of time as how they released pictures of the alleged suspect in Thompson's shooting. But these men who allegedly ran into Jeremy and his friend, they appear to be three men in their 20s, young guys. the one similarity between these two cases really is that they happened in very popular, low crime, low homicide areas. But in most other ways, these two cases are really different. Brian Thompson was targeted, but the situation with Yermi, as we know, was just a lot more spontaneous, a fight between teens. So obviously the way that the NYPD goes about investigating these two incidents will be very different.

And, Brittany, I understand that you spoke with Yermy's mom. What did she tell you? So Yerimi's mom is definitely struggling, of course. She called him, quote, the leader of the pack. So he was like the leader of the manate. So, she says they were always talking about as a family, how they were going to sailor delante, which in Spanish means, you know, how are we going to move ahead?

How are we going to embrace our new, life here in America. She says, Yerimi was the strength and glue of the family, helping his five younger siblings and his mother survive the treacherous journey to the U.S. from their native Venezuela. She talked about some horrific things that they went through along the way. They slept on the streets. They sold things where they could. At one point, he saved his younger brother from drowning in a river. So obviously, was just a crucial part of the family for this journey. And she says his siblings just can't believe he's gone, that they say, mom, there has to be some mistake. Yeah. When was the last time that she saw her son? And what was he doing the hours before the incident?

So on the day he was killed, she told me that Yadami helped take his siblings to school, then came back to their home at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown to have breakfast with his mom. After that, she says he was meeting with a social worker because he was trying to switch high schools. And then after dinner, he just told her he was going to meet a friend who lived in. in another shelter downtown near the Fulton Street subway station, and that was really close to where this whole incident unfolded. What did police tell you about the status of their investigation into this stabbing incident? So police officials have released these very clear photos and videos of the suspect involved in the stabbing. They also have the account from the enemy's friend, the 18-year-old, who survived.

He was stabbed in the arm, I believe. But they have not yet made any arrests. They have not yet identified the alleged assailants. And Yerimi's family and friends are really upset over several reports that have come out saying he was maybe a link to Tren de Aragua, which is a gang with ties in Venezuela that has some involvement here in some of the migrant hotels, according to police officials. But all of Yerami's friends and family say that that's just not true. And then recently police officials have told me that the gang angle in the case is only because the alleged assailants actually flashed gang signs before the attack. But police officials just aren't sure if that's really the reason for the fight that led to the stabbing. NYPD Assistant Commissioner Carlos Nevis told me just yesterday that Yerimi has no arrest record in York City and there's no indication that he was actually a part of Trendera.

And, you know, I'm wondering, Brittany, what comes next for the Kalina family in the case really quickly? So the family is waiting for any news about a possible arrest. Berita says she's praying. She's caring for other children as best she can. But she says the heartbreak is really unbearable. She calls his phone again and again, and he doesn't answer. And my mom, it's horrible to feel that I'm talking, and I'm calling for telephone and no me respond.

It's been a day very difficult. And I'm sure. there working and planning a funeral for her son as we speak. That's the latest reporting from WMYC's Brittany Craigstein. Thanks so much. Thank you so much, Jeney. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this evening.