Two days ago, tenants in a Staten Island apartment complex found a dead man who had a peculiar message scrawled across his chest. Now, a cause of death has been determined.
According to a report The New York Post published on Wednesday (July 21), the spokesman for the city Office of Chief Medical Examiner has ruled the death of 80-year-old Robert Raynor a homicide. On Monday, Raynor’s body was found with the words “I touch little girls” written on his chest. The words “I touch” were written on one of his feet and “I take dolls in my room for girls age 1-5” was written on his stomach. Police say the words were seemingly written in black magic marker.
Raynor had reportedly been living with three relatives, with the oldest one being in her 30s. The rest of the people who lived with Raynor are said to be children.
Local authorities were called to the building at 9:30 a.m., and the man was declared dead on the scene. The publication notes that police say the man had two black eyes. The New York City Medical Examiner is currently looking to find the exact cause of his death as police officers search for clues into the death.
“The man hardly ever came outside,” said Isaac Williams, who lives in the building. “He could barely walk. He could barely lift his arms up. When he’d go to the store to buy beer, he had to put a backpack on for two little cans because he couldn’t carry them. That’s how pitiful his state was. The man looked like he was 110.”
Raynor was reportedly arrested 24 times, with two of those instances being for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in 1987. Raynor’s name is not found in New York’s registry for sex offenders. With this in mind, there aren’t any obvious signs that Raynor had ever been accused of harming children. His estranged son, Thayer Raynor, noted that his father had survived a bout with cancer.