A 55-year-old ex-con accused of killing a 31-year-old woman before he was caught on camera dumping his victim’s body in the trash on a Manhattan street was ordered held without bail Thursday.
Suspect Chad Irish, who denied any involvement in the death of Yazmeen Williams as he was transported to court Wednesday, sat stoically in a wheelchair as prosecutors recounted how he shot the young woman in the head and then disposed of her body in the trash.
Irish killed Williams during a drug dispute, police said.
Chilling video obtained by the Daily News shows Irish in a motorized wheelchair on E. 27th St. near Third Ave. dragging a dolly with what is believed to be Williams’ body wrapped in a sleeping bag.
Irish stops short after the dolly gets caught on building scaffolding, then drags it a few more feet.
Police apprehended him on Monday after he allegedly flashed a gun at a Kips Bay park after a group of people accused him of having something to do with Williams’ death.
“Several people from the neighborhood were quite angry with Mr. Irish over this incident and they surrounded him and he produced a pistol and menaced them,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters at a briefing Tuesday. “He then fled the location back to his apartment, where he was placed under arrest by detectives and patrol.”
When the officers brought him out of the Straus Houses on E. 28th St., Irish, who can walk, but uses a motorized wheelchair to get around, an angry mob that included some members of Williams’ family, targeted him.
The relatives joined the unruly crowd outside Irish’s building when the victim’s aunt, Zque Ramirez, saw Irish through the window as police brought him out and began banging on the glass, demanding they bring him outside.
“It was so quiet and so calm and fine (at first),” another aunt, Nisha Ramirez, told the Daily News. “People were clapping. We were gonna all chant ‘Justice for Yazzy.’ That was the plan.”
But when Zque saw Irish, all bets were off, Nisha Ramirez recounted.
“She was just banging on the glass, saying, ‘Bring him out!’” she said. “I think people started realizing the pain. The people really pounding on him, those were people in the community. Not our family.”
Detectives charged Irish with gun possession, menacing and concealment of a human corpse early Tuesday. He was charged with murder the following day.
“I didn’t do anything. I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about. Who is Yazmeen?” a defiant Irish told reporters as he was taken to Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday evening. “They said I did something to somebody. I didn’t do anything.”
Police believe Williams, who died from a gunshot wound to the head, was killed in Irish’s apartment, according to Kenny.
“She has no drugs in her history,” Kenny said. “But, just from interviewing witnesses and family members, she may have recently began a drug habit.”
Police are investigating the possibility Williams would sometimes stay at Irish’s apartment out of “convenience,” according to Kenny.
“I’m not sure if their relationship was romantic or if was more convenience,” he said. “I’m sure there was some narcotics arrangement involved.”
Williams was about to start a job with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development this week. She was last seen on June 23, Kenny said.
Shortly before her death, Williams had told her grandmother that she was returning home.
“She told me, ‘Mama, I’m coming home’ and everything seemed fine,” Essie Graham told the News about her granddaughter. “If I knew (what was to come), I would have made her come home.”
The story of the vicious murder that has unfolded over nearly a week and rocked the city began when a badly decomposed body was found in the trash on Friday near where the video was recorded. Williams’ body was discovered after neighbors complained of the smell and called 911.
When cops arrived, they found a large garbage bag under a sidewalk shed on a four-wheel dolly, police said. The bag was with the building’s garbage, set to be picked up by the Department of Sanitation.
Officers cut open the plastic bag and found a blue sleeping bag.
As Yazmeen’s remains were discovered inside, a bullet fell out of the back of her head, Kenny said Tuesday.
