A man has confessed to the murder of 19-year old Kevin Pravia’s murder this weekend. From The NY Post via Towleroad:
A 22-year-old Queens man has confessed to killing a Pace University student, who was found strangled in his Chelsea apartment Sunday, police sources said today. The unidentified suspect told cops that he choked and robbed victim Kevin Pravia, 19, after meeting him in Union Square at about 6 a.m. Sunday and accompanying him back to his home.
The suspect allegedly told investigators that he bought drugs from Pravia before they went to the apartment – though police sources said they doubt the drug buy claim. Exactly why they went back to the apartment was unclear. But after arriving there and hanging out for a while, Pravia fell asleep, the suspect told cops. That when he allegedly tried to rob the student.
The suspect told cops that he punched the sleeping teen, put an electrical cord around his neck, stuffed a plastic bag in his mouth and strangled him.
So gross.
Kari b
All you can say is “so gross”
Gross is when you see a booger on the back of a seat in a theatre
This is far more heinous then “gross”
I wonder how the suspect was caught. Did he just walk in and say “I did it”? When this goes to trial i’ll bet anything the defense will use the “Gay Panic” defense. Now that’s gross
IDNY
Fellow NYC kiddies, PLEASE be careful!
…and use common sense.
I am surprised we dont hear about this more often.
Such a shame/tragedy.
Dubwise
That is a combination of horrible and sad.
Brad
I don’t think that they will go with “gay panic.” The kid fell asleep…hardly like he was hitting on him.
retrofit71
sadly i knew this was going to be the outcome as soon as i heard this story. God i feel SO lucky to have come through my 20’s mostly unscathed.. my behaviour was much like this kid, cruising Union Square at 6 am? Yikes.
L
And what is the gay angle here…?
JJJJ
Notice how Queerty isn’t showing the available pic of Jeromie Cancel, who confessed? Talk about political correctness.
Alexa
JJJJ, I think it’s called not being psychic. If you actually read the articles linked in the story they don’t name him or show a picture, either – because when they were written his name had not been released (in fact, your comment is the first time I have heard a name mentioned, I’ll take your word for it that it actually is the suspect’s name).
retrofit71
Jeromie Cancel’s pic and more story here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/09/02/2008-09-02_confession_in_murder_of_pace_student_pol.html
Giovanni
“And what is the gay angle here…?”
Ummm… he was gay?
WakeUP
Gay men stop bringing home straight males. You are asking for trouble. They don’t want to have sex with you anyway. Gay men you need to educate yourself and prepare yourself for situations like this. Do research on hate crimes and murders of gay men.
ousslander
He prob cruised each other at the park an were going to hook up. Unfortunately he picked up this waste of human Life. This is why we should have the death penalty. People like Cancel do not deserve to live let alone get 3 squares and college education in jail.
Insideguy
Having just lost my own younger brother, I feel for his family. Too many children today are raised without having to experience consequences i.e. “honours student” What is that for anyway? Everyone works hard at their own pace. None of us are perfect but kids are led to believe that they are special.
I am not berating the boy. He was a kid, kids do stupid things, and sometimes stupid things have fatal consequences. It was a holiday and people drink, and drug. Do the party promoters and bartenders have a part in it? Do his parents have a part init for not teaching him consequences. Do you have a part in it for constantly berating “Ricans” so that they have no self-esteem and feel useless so crime becomes their option.
Everyone has a part in it and until we realize that and start to unite rather than divide there will bee many more Kevin Pravias.
B Nesbitt
WakeUP what exactly do you mean, educate and prepare?? while I’m at it I’ll educate and prepare myself to be car-jacked!
Not massively impressed by Queerty’s attitude here, very disrespectful.
Kari b
I understand WakeUp completely. You always run the risk of trouble. you need to be aware of your surroundings even in your own home. I make sure my valuables are well hidden. And I don’t fall a sleep until the one-night stand leaves. Besides if you listen to your gut felling it is usually right. BTW gay men can be just as dangerous as thugs especially if they on a tina bender for several days straight.
Doesn’t anyone just date anymore.
B Nesbitt
well I like the traditional stuff, dates are awesome, defo the way to go, good for fulfilment, bit of a romantic if I’m honest.
This is a strange and tragic one, bringing a drug dealer into your home triggers alarm bells for me, but that doesn’t matter, the murder was brutal, and for what, a laptop, ipod, and cell phone? I’m speechless.
Charles J. Mueller
From stealing a car in Florida to murdering a man in New York City. Now, that’s a quantum leap!
princedeligne
I doubt he was cruising Union Square at 6 am for sex, which BTW is no more dangerous than cruising any number of bars in the Chelsea, EV or Hells Kitchen. It was a random murder. Kari B, thank you for stating that gay men under the influence can be just as dangerous as any thug. Its the truth. Kevin just exercised poor judgement, he met the wrong person and was unable to defend himself. Naive? Maybe. He was only 19 and new to NYC. It is tragic, but It will happen again.
JJJJ
Princedelign is right. Mathematically-speaking, a small percentage of strangers-taken-home will turn out to be psychopaths. It happens to heteros too.
Reality Dose
I stay away from Union Square like it is the plague. It has become so annoying, overflowing with NYU students trying to hard to be cool, punks from that high school on Irving Place, and delusional wackos. Besides the fact you can hardly make your way around the throngs.
When I moved to the city in 1993 it was not nearly as much of a headache. No Virgin Megastore, Whole Foods, or Filenes Basement. No B&N. Just the Coffee Shop and a crappy old dept. store named Bradlees. It was actually relaxing and somewhat peaceful, if you can beleive it.
Michael
Grosse? What kind of statement is that? This is a horribly sad story. I know that odds are that something like this will never happen to most people but we still should all be careful. I know that we do not know if anything sexual was involved but for those of us who do pick up the occasional sex partner I think that this is a good argument for bath houses and sex clubs. I just think its a safer alternative than bring home a stranger.
NYSomething
I was actually an acquaintance of Kevin’s, I’ve hung out with him a few times before and new his ex-boyfriend well. This is so incredibly sad and scary.
Pretty positive he wasn’t cruising Union Square, don’t think many people do that. I also doubt that he sold anyone drugs, although I’m sure drugs were involved.
This is so surreal to be reading about this on Queerty and all over the news.
AR-Jock
Hubba hubba, I see why Kevin picked him. He’s a cutie. I’m a sucker for Latino men.
scott
Seriously. GROSS!!! WTF!!!
More like horrible, henious, disgusting, sad. But not gross. It’s pathetic to just use “gross” to describe a murder.
And this story should be updated ala the link provided by a poster.
It seems like according to that news update:
-NO HOOK-UP
-The victim was high and trying to score
-The perp was a crazy effer
-The victim unwisely brought the perp back to his apartment
Why would you do that? Can’t you just buy the drugs and go home without the perp. So sad.
Andy
As someone who was personally acquainted with Kevin, I’ve found a large amount of the press coverage to be extremely offensive. The first articles were not so horrible, but within a day they began berating him for his lifestyle. I’m hopeful the media will discontinue to cast him in a negative light. While nothing can makeup for the loss of Kevin, I am glad that his killer has been found.
Alexa
FWIW the coverage I saw wasn’t negative about Kevin at all. It was just sad. They talked to the killer’s father, and he seemed like a nice, very upset man, in total shock that his son had done something so bad. Apparently it surprised everyone when he confessed to the police out of the blue after being arrested for something else. They showed him being led away and, honestly, he looked and sounded totally crazy.
Marc
I was also acquainted with Kevin and I too find that some of the media coverage of his death has been insensitive and even offensive. Instead of treating his death as what it is, a senseless tragedy, some in the media are determined to blame Kevin’s “lifestyle” for what happened to him.
Furthermore, some seem willing to take the killer’s story at face value, believing that Kevin was in Union Square to score drugs, something that I find to be a very dubious claim.
Rather than straight-up reporting, these media sources are convinced that we need to learn some kind of moral lesson from Kevin’s death. This is not so. The only thing we need learn is that sometimes strange and terrible things happen in this world.
B Nesbitt
Well said Marc, I look at this story and do wonder about the conclusions that are jumped to but some reporting, and some commenting. I would say insensitive is an understatement in some cases, I do think offensive in more accurate.
Doctor Who
🙁
natriley
I’m doing a column for gay city news about Kevin who by all accounts was incredibly friendly and open. 500 people showed up for his funeral in a small town that would be like 100,000 in NYC. I am looking for people who knew him in 2008, contact me at [email protected]