Victim’s mother speaks out after gay nightlife murder verdict

Perfect deadly cocktail It was outside The Q nightclub, which shuttered in 2023, where Umberger met DeMaio and Hamilton. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast presented the evidence, showing step by step how Umberger died and the shopping spree that happened after the two men left his lifeless body in the Upper East Side townhouse. The video showed the moment the two men engaged with Umberger a block away from The Q around 4 a.m. on May 28, 2022.and walked together up 8th Avenue before turning West on West 50th Street. Later that morning, CCTV footage from Umberger’s boss’ building showed DeMaio’s rental car arriving at the Upper East Side townhouse and Umberger entering the building with DeMaio and Hamilton around 5:59 a.m. Around 6:16 a.m. prosecutors showed videos of DeMaio’s tour of the townhouse where Umberger was staying. He walks by Umberger’s lifeless body and shows Hamilton hanging out on the terrace drinking and smoking. Around 6:50 a.m., DeMaio and Hamilton are captured on the CCTV footage leaving the building and driving away in the rental car. Their digital footprint presented by Hast showed the men briefly returning to Brooklyn before heading back into Manhattan for their shopping spree with others using Umberger’s bank and credit card accounts. “He was totally passed out like a rag doll,” Clary said of her son in the video. “It's just sickening, they have no regard or concern for what they do.”  Clary spoke exclusively with Gay City News the day after three men were convicted. W24ST reported the defense’s only witness called by DeMaio’s lawyer, Dean J. Vigliano, was James Czekai, who testified he was supposed to hang out with Umberger that Labor Day Weekend after meeting him on a social media app. Czekai told the court that on May 27, Umberger hung out at Czekai’s apartment where he snorted cocaine he brought with him several times. Umberger then went out while Czekai texted him, “Be careful out there,” and forwarded him an article about Ramirez’s death. “It was like reliving John's death,” Clary said about enduring the drawn out legal process — from the jury selection to the three men’s conviction. “That was very difficult and painful.” [caption id="attachment_55530" align="aligncenter" width="783"] The late John Umberger (second from left) with his mother, Linda Clary (middle)Linda Clary[/caption] Gay City News is waiting for a response from Ramirez’s family to grant a request for an interview. Clary also spoke passionately about watching the video evidence of Ramirez’s death presented to the court. Ramirez’s family left the courtroom, as it was too painful for them to watch, but Clary watched, stating that it was “just sickening and very sobering.” “It's just been a tragic honor to get to know them a little and to sit with them,” Clary said about Ramirez’s parents, Ana and Julio, and brother, Carlos. She noted that Barroso, DeMaio, and Hamilton could have used Narcan to save both Ramirez’s, her son’s, and other people’s lives. “My family and I are very grateful and relieved that the jury found these people guilty,” Carlos Ramirez, Julio Ramirez’s brother, told W24ST the day after the verdict. “It doesn’t bring my brother back, it really doesn’t change much on how I feel, honestly. The pain is still great, but it’s good to know that they didn’t get away with it and can no longer continue doing what they did.”

Praise Clary and Carlos Ramirez both praised the NYPD homicide detectives, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, and all the people who helped bring justice to their loved ones, and all the people who supported them. Clary couldn’t praise Detective Randy Rose and his team enough for making the connection to what on the surface appeared to be separate drug overdosing’s and seeing her son’s and Julio Ramirez’s cases through to justice. “Detective Randy, to me, is the hero of the whole story,” Clary said. “He was committed to doing his job and in doing his part to bring these men to justice. “I'm just so grateful for everyone in the DA’s office that worked so hard to make the jury's verdict possible,” she added. Carlos Ramirez, Julio Ramirez’s brother, also expressed his gratitude. “I’m very thankful to the NYPD homicide detectives, the ADAs and their staff, and everyone involved in bringing justice to my brother,” Carlos Ramirez told W24ST. “He was truly an amazing person, my little brother. It’s evident with how many people honored him and supported us.”

Sounding the alarm Clary previously expressed her disappointment in the NYPD’s initial investigation into her son’s murder. The lack of response to Julio Ramirez’s and Umberger’s deaths caused her to push the city’s police department and the Manhattan district attorney’s office to take another look into their cases and to get the word out. “Nobody was sounding the alarm,” Clary said about the rings of gangs drugging and robbing people throughout New York City. “Another thing that was very disappointing and actually upsetting is that no one was getting the word out that this sort of thing was going on in the nightlife, especially in the gay community, and how to help that.” Clary only hopes her actions and breaking the case’s siloed murders  — especially Ramirez and Umberger — saved lives. She also said she was "very disappointed" in New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s veto of a bill requiring payment apps to increase security. “It seemed like a great opportunity for New York to lead across the country and do something positive,” Clary said, adding that Apple could also do more to protect customers. Out New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal vowed to reintroduce the Financial Payment Security Act in a statement expressing sorrow for Ramirez’s and Umberger’s families and praising the verdict February 10. Clary is finalizing the mission of the John Anthony Umberger Foundation, which she and the family and friends set up to carry on Umberger’s memory. Safety is one of the pillars she’s focused on. “I am still convinced there are certainly more victims that these men victimized,” Clary said. “I wouldn't be surprised if there are not more deaths involved.”

Not over Clary said she and the victims and Ramirez’s family will have impact statements at Barroso, DeMaio, and Hamilton’s sentencing on April 4. Citing their “continued callousness” after Ramirez’s and her son’s deaths and “their refusal on any level to take any element of responsibility for their actions," Clary expressed hope that Judge Mennin will sentence the three men to more than 25 years each in prison. Barroso, DeMaio, and Hamilton’s lawyers vowed to appeal their cases. While Clary continues to pray for them, she is steadfast in her faith in the evidence against them. “Go ahead and appeal all you want, but nothing's going to change,” Clary said. “You're still going to be sitting in jail.”