THE BRONX (PIX11) — The Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed to PIX11 News Thursday that two additional victims of club druggings — who were found in the Bronx last summer — died by homicide.
Alexander Rudnitsky, a Yonkers man who was in his 20s, was discovered near the Jerome Park Reservoir, which is close to Lehman College, last July. Rudnitsky was dragged out of a car and dumped on the sidewalk by thieves, a law enforcement source said.
The source said the victim was targeted outside a rooftop bar in downtown Manhattan earlier that night and eventually drugged with a lethal cocktail of narcotics before he was robbed.
The medical examiner told PIX11 News Rudnitsky’s death was caused by “complications of acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, morphine, clonazolam, lidocaine, and ethanol.”
Another victim who was found not far from the reservoir in August, on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, also died from a fatal combination of drugs: fentanyl, heroin and ethanol, according to the medical examiner.
A grand jury is currently empaneled in Lower Manhattan to consider potential murder charges against associates of Kenwood Allen, a Bronx barber who’s already been indicted on two felony murder counts for alleged club druggings.
So far, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner has released findings on seven people who were the victims of alleged fatal druggings tied to nightclubs.
Law enforcement sources told PIX11 News last June that at least two robbery rings seemed to be operating in different parts of Manhattan. One ring was targeting gay nightclubs in Hell’s Kitchen, while another seemed to focus on bars and hotels downtown.
Many victims had their bank accounts and credit cards cleared of thousands of dollars by thieves who used the facial recognition feature of smartphones to access accounts.
The mother of John Umberger, a political consultant from Washington, D.C. who died after leaving The Q in Hell’s Kitchen with two strange men, said she’s been led to believe many more deaths occurred. $22,000 had been stolen from Umberger’s credit card and bank accounts by thieves taking advantage of the facial recognition device on his smart phone.
Six criminal warrants were issued by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office last Friday after murder indictments were handed up in Umberger’s case and another case involving social worker Julio Ramirez.
