A suspected paedophile has been found dead on Staten Island in New York City with the words “I touch little girls” written across his chest.
According to The Independent, the deceased; Robert Raynor was found in a hallway on the first floor of a building on 256 Corson Ave in Tompkinsville on the north side of the island at around 9.30am on Monday, according to law enforcement.
The death of the 80-year-old man
has been ruled as a homicide; Mr Raynor was killed by blunt trauma to the head and torso, according to a spokesman for the office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Police confirmed that the phrase “I touch little girls” was written on his bare chest.
The New York Post reported that “I take dolls in my room for girls age 1-5” was written on his stomach, and “I touch” was inscribed on his right foot.
When reached by The Independent, an NYPD spokesperson said: “There are no updates at this time. This remains an ongoing investigation.”
Upstairs neighbour Isaac Williams said the phrases appeared to have been written using “black magic marker”.
Shakera McFadden, 32, is one of Mr Raynor’s daughters and lived with him in North Carolina before he moved to Staten Island.
“My daddy never touched nobody. He never touched no little girls,” she said according to the New York Post.
“He could barely move his arms, he could barely move legs. He could barely do anything,” she said.
“He ain’t no saint, but he ain’t no paedophile,” she added.
“That’s not my father,” Carolyn Whetstone, also a daughter of Mr Raynor, told the New York Daily News from her home in North Carolina, referring to the messages written on his torso. “He would not touch a child. He would never violate anyone. He’s got daughters and granddaughters that he’s watched when he’s come to visit me… That’s not him. That’s not true.”
Mr Williams, 40, told the New York Post that he was awoken early in the morning on Monday by a loud sounds in the apartment below.
“It was so loud, I could hear it over the air conditioner,” 40-year-old Isaac Williams told the paper. “I said, ‘What the hell are they doing down there?’ It was loud banging, like ‘boom, boom, boom.’ Like people were wrestling or someone was throwing somebody around.”
Mr Williams was able to go back to sleep, but later saw his neighbour’s body in the hallway when he came downstairs. The neighbour told the New York Post that Mr Raynor was only wearing pants, which were below his waist, and his arms were above his head. It looked as if he had been dragged.
According to police, Mr Raynor had cuts to his forehead, as well as two black eyes. Mr Williams said his nose also appeared to be injured. The neighbour said the 80-year-old was frail and that he didn’t have any suspicions about improper behaviour from him.
According to The Post, Mr Raynor had been arrested 24 times, but his criminal record didn’t show any signs of paedophilia and his name doesn’t show up in New York’s online registry of sex offenders.
Four out of the 24 arrests are unsealed. He was arrested twice in 1987 for assaulting his girlfriend, once in 1992 for another assault, and in 1996 for drug possession.
