Body Of Man Who Killed His Roommate In Homeless Shelter Found Floating In The Hudson

The decomposing corpse of a 21-year-old man was recovered from the Hudson River near 145th Street on Wednesday, and has been tentatively identified as Anthony White—a homeless man who cops believe fatally stabbed his 62-year-old roommate in a Harlem shelter in January, prompting Mayor de Blasio to launch stricter security measures in city shelters.

Police sources told the NY Times that the corpse was found floating Wednesday morning around 11:00 a.m. Officers recovered an ID card from the remains that matched White, but confirmation is still pending, according to the NYPD and the Medical Examiner's office.

White, who had a history of psychiatric issues, was staying at the Boulevard Homeless Shelter in East Harlem on January 28th when he was accused of fatally stabbing his roommate Deven Black, an ex-school teacher, in the neck. White fled the shelter, a special facility for men with documented mental health issues, prompting a citywide manhunt.

Black was a former middle school Social Studies teacher and librarian, and once served as president of the Parent-Teachers Association at Upper Nyack Elementary School. He suffered from severe depression, and had checked into the shelter three days before he was killed, after pleading guilty to bank fraud. Residents later said that White had been making death threats in the week leading up to the attack, becoming increasingly paranoid about his possessions being stolen. The final straw between Black and White was apparently an argument over White's missing cellphone.

Mayor de Blasio said after the stabbing that he would give city shelters "whatever it takes: the technology, the personnel to keep people safe.” Security was immediately beefed up in shelters for the mentally ill, and then in hotel shelters after a man fatally stabbed his wife and two of her children in a motel on Staten Island. This week, the NYPD announced that it will be retraining all Department of Homeless Services security guards and peace officers.

At a preliminary DHS budget hearing this week, interim DHS overseer Steven Banks pointed out that 60 percent of all violence in shelters is domestic violence, which can't be easily mitigated by posting more guards at shelter entrances. He's planning to re-establish an in-shelter domestic violence intervention program.