A Brooklyn man accused of sexually abusing a corpse aboard a downtown subway was taken into custody Sunday evening, NYPD officials confirmed.
Felix Rojas, 44, turned himself in nearly three weeks after allegedly assaulting the body of a deceased man aboard an R train pulling into Whitehall Street station, police said.
The victim, 37-year-old Jorge Gonzalez, had boarded the subway around 8 p.m. on April 8. Rojas reportedly entered the train roughly three hours later. What happened in the time between remains under investigation — but the act that followed left even seasoned officers shaken.
Surveillance footage reviewed by police shows the suspect engaging in the disturbing act shortly before midnight. He was captured fleeing the train just after 12:08 a.m.
Cops released a surveillance image of the suspect in the days following the incident, sparking a manhunt. Rojas eventually walked into a police precinct with his son on Sunday and surrendered, sources told The New York Post.
Authorities still haven’t confirmed what caused Gonzalez’s death. His estranged wife told police the father of one had struggled with cirrhosis and long-term alcoholism.
Rojas now faces rape charges in one of the most grotesque crimes the subway system has seen in years. The NYPD has not disclosed further details about the suspect’s prior record, if any.
