Ex-con who dragged Yazmeen Williams’ body in sleeping bag threatened to ‘shoot’ her days before killing: prosecutors
The accused killer who dumped the body of a 31-year-old Manhattan woman in a sidewalk trash pile threatened to “shoot” his victim just days before the murder, prosecutors revealed at his arraignment Thursday.
Chad Irish, 55, was remanded on murder charges for the grisly killing of Yazmeen Williams, who prosecutors say was threatened by the ex-con five days before he shot her in the back of the head inside his Kips Bay apartment on July 1.
“[He stated] to his victim he is going to shoot her,” Assistant District Attorney Tricia Phillips said in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Prosecutors said that cops recovered three different caliber bullets found inside Irish’s home in the Straus Houses, a NYCHA complex, where an angry mob swarmed and attacked him as he was being escorted on a stretcher by cops earlier this week.
Irish — an ex-con with a lengthy rap sheet — allegedly shot Williams in the head before he brazenly dumped her body on Third Avenue near East 27th Street on June 6.
Surveillance video obtained by The Post appears to show Irish pulling a blue sleeping bag on a dolly, dragging his victim’s remains while riding a motorized wheelchair — which prosecutors confirmed in court.
Irish then left the sleeping bag among several black trash bags placed on the sidewalk for garbage collection, where a foul odor was emitting from the pile with Williams’ body stuffed inside, cops said.
Prosecutors revealed that a woman dropped off cleaning supplies to Irish shortly after the fatal shooting at his apartment, handing the crippled crook a bag at his door before leaving, according to a criminal complaint.
It’s unclear whether the woman will face charges.
Irish, who wore a beige prison short-sleeve shirt during his court appearance, also faces a concealment of a human corpse charge for hiding Williams’ body for days, prosecutors said.
He was slapped with additional menacing charges for allegedly threatening another person with a black gun on July 8, only a few days after the killing.
What to know about the shocking death of Yazmeen Williams, the woman found dumped in a sleeping bag in NYC:
- Mom in agony after daughter found murdered, body dumped in sleeping bag
- Video reveals ex-con dragging woman’s body in sleeping bag on NYC street as wheelchair-bound suspect hit with murder charge
- Wild video of angry mob swarming person of interest in homicide of NYC woman found in sleeping bag as he’s taken into custody
- Chad Irish, ex-con charged in NYC woman’s sleeping bag death, has a twin with a lengthy rap sheet – with the same name
“The defendant is facing life in prison on more than one charge,” Phillips said, while reading off Irish’s rap sheet — which includes six felony convictions, five of which are for violent offenses, and 11 misdemeanor convictions.
Irish’s attorney, Michelle Benoit of the Legal Aid Society, deferred a bail application and asked Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Michelle Weber to get her client medical attention and to place him in protective custody.
Williams, who studied criminal justice at Buffalo State University, was set to start a job this week with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Her grief-stricken mother had told The Post that she believed her daughter’s killer was a friend of hers who uses a wheelchair after learning about her death.
“That’s her friend! The man in the wheelchair is her friend!” Nicole Williams, Yazmeen’s mom, said. “He’s got to be! He knows her from the neighborhood! Oh my God!”
The judge said that Irish “has a lifetime of criminal history” before remanding him on the prosecution’s request.
Irish is set to appear next in court on July 12.
