The ruthless crowbar beating death of an openhearted Bronx man stemmed from a sexual encounter he was uninvolved in and accusations he stole a moped battery, police say.
Ramon “Mundo” Luna was discovered dead in his apartment inside the Clason Point Gardens NYCHA complex on Lafayette Ave. in Soundview on May 5 when a friend came over to drop off some toiletries and food, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. Luna suffered five puncture wounds to his head, likely from a crowbar, cops said.
Luna’s death was deemed a homicide last week. An autopsy by the city Medical Examiner determined he died from multiple blunt impacts to his head, face, torso and extremities. He also had several broken ribs.
It was her brother’s big heart and willingness to help people less fortunate than himself that likely sealed Luna’s fate, his sister said this week.
“He always opened his home to people,” said Feliciano, 35. “If you don’t have nowhere to stay, go to Mundo’s house.”
The brutal attack began with an assault on Luna’s 28-year-old friend Yullimar Valez, according to Kenny.
“She was a local sleeping outside and he would let her sleep inside,” said Feliciano of Valez. “He used to make sure everybody had somewhere safe to sleep.”
“Valez was on the second floor sleeping when two perps, one male and one female, enter her bedroom and begin to assault her,” Kenny said.
Valez was accused of having sex, along with some of Valez’s friends who were not present, with the male attacker in the past, the chief added.
“The female perp states to her, ‘B—-es be disrespecting my man,’” Kenny said.
The unhinged duo struck Valez with their fists and a cane before the male attacker brought Luna into the room, accused him of stealing a moped battery and beat him to death, Kenny said.
As Luna was beaten, the female attacker cut off Valez’s hair with a pair of scissors. Valez suffered cuts to her face and bruising all over her body. She was treated and released from Jacobi Medical Center.
Cops are closing in on two people of interest, Kenny said this week.
“That would be the best news if I get it, that there was an arrest,” Feliciano said Wednesday, on what would have been his 38th birthday. “That would be a great birthday present.”
On Wednesday, Feliciano visited the lobby of her brother’s building, where neighbors have set up a memorial of votive candles. Luna took over the apartment years ago after his adoptive mother died.
“ It’s not a nice feeling, this loss,” Feliciano said. “It’s his birthday and this is what we have got to do. We should be celebrating.”
“He used to help out all the little old ladies with their bags. All the little old ladies loved him. He was a local neighborhood hero,” she added. “He wanted to be in a relationship. He wanted to fall in love. He wanted to have a wife.”
GoFundMe
Ramon Luna, 37, was found dead inside his Lafayette Ave. apartment in the Soundview section of the Bronx on May 5. (GoFundMe)
On Wednesday, family friend Sarah Ortiz, 38, remembered Luna as both the outgoing “life of the party” and someone trustworthy enough to look after her son.
“His loss could be dismissed because of his alcoholism. We don’t want that. He was loved,” said Ortiz, who knew Luna since high school.
“I want to look into the face of the person who did it. I want to know why,” she added. “I want them to be locked up. I want them to sit inside and think about what they did. We just want justice.”
“We all knew him,” said a neighbor named Maria, who has lived in the complex for 37 years. “He was there for a very long time … It was a travesty because he was a sick guy.”
Another neighbor, who only identified herself as Gina, said Luna looked out for others and neighbors looked out for him.
“He didn’t bother anybody,” said Gina, 39. “We’d see each other, say ‘Hi, you all right?’ If he was hungry, he’d say, ‘Hey neighbor, what you cooking today?’ And if I had extra I would give it to him.”
Luna was a frail man who walked with a limp and suffered from alcoholism but always avoided conflict, longtime friend Sharif Sherrod told the Daily News last week.
“[He had a] kind heart,” Sherrod, 49, said, breaking down in tears. “[He] would give you the shirt off his back and that’s not just a cliché. He literally would. That’s why this happened to him because he opened his door to anyone and he had no judgments.”
Feliciano said the shock of her brother’s brutal murder lasted about six weeks before transforming into a grim realization.
“That’s when everything really hit me,” she said. “I was on an MTA bus on my way home about a month ago. I just felt something like my heart shattered. Like someone threw a rock to my heart and it shattered. I held it in but as soon as I got home and my husband opened the door I cried and cried.”
With Leonard Greene and Elizabeth Keogh
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