Rashawn Brazell
Encyclopedia
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
In February 2005, after disappearing from his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
, 19-year-old Brazell's dismembered body parts were found in garbage bags strewn throughout the borough. Though his story was initially refused coverage in most mainstream media outlets, it incited responses from bloggers and activists argued that his murder received limited coverage because he was a black gay working-class male.
Rashawn's family reported that on the morning of February 14, 2005, Rashawn was scheduled to meet his accountant and then meet his mother for lunch in Manhattan. At 7:30 that morning, an unknown person rang the apartment building's security buzzer and Rashawn went down to meet him. According to other witnesses, Rashawn met a man outside his Brooklyn, New York apartment and the two men entered the subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
together at the Gates Avenue J Line. Witnesses believe the two exited at the Nostrand Avenue A Line in Bedford Stuyvesant a short time later. Rashawn was never seen alive again. On February 18, 2005, the New York Post reported that a bag full of body parts were positively identified through fingerprints as being Rashawn Brazell. On February 19, 2005, the New York Daily News also reported on the murder. NYPD detectives have kept the case active and have been through the country searching for clues.
America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...
has profiled the case five times on TV and three times on the radio. The most recent airing was in August 2008.
External links
- A Year After a Teenager Was Dismembered, Still No Answer , New York Times 2006-02-13
- Find his killer: Mom of butchered Bushwick man wants answers, New York Daily NewsNew York Daily NewsThe Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
2008-08-29 - Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund to "promote critical thought about the impact of violence and intolerance, particularly upon queer communities of African descent"
- http://wnsr.parsons.edu/2010/01/26/open-your-mind-with-terik-king-season-2-episode-5-the-rashawn-brazell-case/comment-page-1/#comment-1139