A Middle Village native, 54-year-old Joseph Benzinger, was found dead in his room at the Crown Motel in Elmhurst late Saturday night. Police say the cleaning staff at the hourly rate hotel found his body shortly before midnight.
He had been strangled and had a shirt wrapped around his neck.
Councilman Daniel Dromm expressed deep concern over the safety of men in the gay community as possible targets for killers. He was joined by Ejeris Dixon, Director at the New York Anti-Violence program and Tony Simone, Director for Community Outreach for NYC Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. Photo Courtesy of Alex Lopez.
A news report highlighting comments form Maria Ortiz, a motel desk clerk at Crown, spoke of a “nice guy.” Describing Benzinger as a regular customer at the motel. “He was a very good guy. Very quiet,” the clerk said. “He would always say ‘Hi, how are you, how’s your day.’ ”
Police sources investigating the homicide say there was no sign of forced entry into the room and confirmed that there were no suspects presently.
Benziger’s murder is one of three involving the strangulation of gay males, in their forties or fifties, in the city over the last several weeks, that has triggered an alarm among activists and the City Council.
Authorities say that on-line dating may have been the deadly commonality among the murders and activist groups as well as the council have issued alerts in relation to the incidents. Although the alerts are meant as a warning for everyone in the online dating community, they have been targeted for gay males in light of the recent string of incidents.
And the discovery at the Crown Motel on Saturday has led to further focus in the local Queens community and among gay victim advocates. Benzinger was the second victim from Queens. On January 26, Queens middle school teacher David Rangel, 53 was found dead in his Jackson Heights apartment.
City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), himself openly gay, held a press conference on Tuesday, outside the Crown Motel, urging the gay community to take extreme caution when meeting up with someone for the first time online.
“It’s frightening,” said Dromm, “I fear that there could be somebody out there targeting gay men. People need to exercise extreme caution.”
Deputy Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP), Ejeris Dixon, confirmed at the conference that her group has seen increases in the reports of encounters in what she called “pick-up violence”—the term refers to episodes that occur between people that have met for the first time, either at a bar or online, and go home together. AVP is a New York City organization devoted to the prevention of violence against lesbians and homosexuals.
Dixon says that for people who have never experienced this type of violence, the situation can be very frightening. She told reporters that her organization has seen thousands of violent episodes in which gays have been targeted but these killings really stand out even for those who have repeatedly been exposed to violent incidents. “For people who have [experienced online violence], it’s a triggering experience.”
Dixon suggested that people hooking up with someone for the first time should let their friends know of their plans, even suggesting that they call them a couple of hours in just to check on things.
And Dromm reiterated the warnings. “They [people] need to exercise extreme caution while dating,”
Police say they are not sure if there is any connection at all in the murders however are supporting the various warnings being issued.
PIX11 News has confirmed that NYPD detectives are poring over video surveillance in search of suspects in these killings but have chosen not to release the video as of yet.
By Patricia Adams
