Freezing days and nights claimed the lives of a grandmother, a dancer, a dispatcher and a man who lived among a colony of feral cats.
Shortly before dawn on a Saturday, a retired woman in the quiet residential neighborhood of St. Albans, Queens, got up to use the bathroom. She happened to glance out the front window of her house and saw something alarming: a stranger lying face up on the sidewalk.
The temperature was 10 degrees, and the wind chill was five degrees below. The woman called 911. Paramedics arrived quickly, but the man on the ground, Headley Evans, 71, was soon pronounced dead.
That was Jan. 24.
The next two and a half weeks were the coldest stretch that New York City had seen in years. Despite an increasingly frantic campaign by the fledgling administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani to persuade people to shelter indoors, frozen bodies kept turning up across the city.
The deaths came in a wave — six dead or dying people were found that first morning — and then a steady succession of one or two a day, in doorways and alleys, at remote campsites and along well-traveled thoroughfares.
By Tuesday, at least 20 people had died after exposure to the frigid air and snow.
The youngest was 27 years old; the oldest was 90 and had dementia. Some were homeless. Some died with drugs or alcohol in their system. All found themselves at the bitter mercy of the cold.
Saturday, January 24
5:35 a.m.
185-46 Hilburn Avenue, St. Albans, Queens
Wind chill: -5°F
185-46 Hilburn Avenue, St. Albans, Queens
Wind chill: -5°F
Headley Evans died of hypothermia, with alcohol as a contributing factor, the city medical examiner’s office said.
6:57 a.m.
East 69th Street and First Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Temperature: 9°F
East 69th Street and First Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Temperature: 9°F
A 54-year-old man was found about a block from Weill Cornell Medical Center. He died at the hospital a few hours later. His name has not been released.
7:45 a.m.
528 Third Avenue, Murray Hill, Manhattan
Wind chill: -1°F
528 Third Avenue, Murray Hill, Manhattan
Wind chill: -1°F
Frederick Jones, 67, had settled into a routine of panhandling on the sidewalk in front of a McDonald’s on Third Avenue near 34th Street or at a D’Agostino grocery store a couple of blocks away.
He lived in a building with on-site social services on West 43rd Street. Travis Ferguson, a neighbor, said he often heard social workers checking in on him in the morning. “You could see bugs coming out from under his door,” he said.
On the night of Jan. 23, Tyrone Williams, a porter at D’Agostino who was on polite terms with Mr. Jones, saw him outside at 10 p.m. He was huddled under a scaffolding, surrounded by small bottles of Fireball whiskey. Mr. Williams asked him if he was all right, and Mr. Jones said he was.
By morning, he was dead.
In front of the McDonald’s, a man named Antonio, who declined to give his last name, doubled over when he heard the news. He said Mr. Jones was a good person and a good friend.
8:38 a.m.
4422 Third Avenue, Belmont, the Bronx
Wind chill: -1°F
4422 Third Avenue, Belmont, the Bronx
Wind chill: -1°F
Lance Vega, 60, had gone to St. Barnabas Hospital two days earlier complaining of sciatica and was discharged the same day. He may have been coming in to seek more treatment when he collapsed outside one of the hospital buildings, a St. Barnabas spokesman said.
9:25 a.m.
1112 Remsen Avenue, Canarsie, Brooklyn
Temperature: 10°F
1112 Remsen Avenue, Canarsie, Brooklyn
Temperature: 10°F
Barbara Szuter, 64, had set up a camp of blankets and food containers in an alley next to an apartment building where she used to sleep in the basement. Neighbors said a man whom she called Chrissy often stayed with her.
In the early hours of Jan. 24, Jonathan Inesta, who lived in the building, heard Ms. Szuter weeping outside in the bitter cold. He and his girlfriend put together a bag with bottled water, snacks and enough cash for a subway ride. Ms. Szuter did not seem to speak much English, so they also included a note asking for help that they hoped she could show to a subway worker. They took the bag outside.
“We told her she wasn’t going to make it through the night,” Mr. Inesta said. “She didn’t say anything.”
She was bundled up under blankets, but Mr. Inesta and his girlfriend begged her to go to a shelter. Then they pointed to the open door to the building and invited her inside. Ms. Szuter didn’t move.
In the morning, Carlton Pennant, another neighbor, came home and found a man leaning over Ms. Szuter’s body in the alley, wailing.
“Mama, you’ve left me,” Mr. Pennant remembered the man crying. “Mama, you’ve left me.”
9:25 a.m.
327 Warren Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Temperature: 10°F
327 Warren Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Temperature: 10°F
Michael Veronico, 44, used to visit a drop-in center run by VOCAL-NY, a Brooklyn nonprofit, each week.
Sometimes he came for clothes or medical supplies. Sometimes he would stop by just for a cup of coffee, said Graciela Razo, director of the drop-in and the nonprofit’s syringe-service programs. He never felt safe in a shelter, she said, so he chose to live outside. Mr. Veronico was sweet but quiet, she said.
“He was a parent, he was a very artistic person, and then just had a big community at VOCAL,” Ms. Razo said. “He came in and people were happy to see him.”
But he had not been by since around December. His body was found near a building about 10 blocks from the drop-in center.
With a “Code Blue” in effect in the city to provide extra resources to homeless people, and snowfall expected to begin overnight, Mr. Mamdani posted on X at 8:15 p.m. that at least five people have died:“While it’s still too early to determine the causes of death, it is a reminder that every year New Yorkers succumb to the cold. The danger of this weather cannot be overstated.”
Sunday January 25
10:36 a.m.
Junction Playground, Jackson Heights, Queens
Wind chill: -3°F
Junction Playground, Jackson Heights, Queens
Wind chill: -3°F
Sara Hylton for The New York Times
Nolberto Jimbo-Niola, 52, had come to the United States from Ecuador many years ago, according to State Senator Jessica Ramos, who represents the part of Queens where he was found.
In 2016, he was ordered to return to Ecuador. An immigration judge noted that he had been living in the United States for 25 years and supported a wife and children, but had also been convicted of drunk driving. It is not clear why he was still in New York.
He was found on a bench at Junction Playground with snow piled on top of him and discharge papers from Elmhurst Hospital in his pocket.
“What’s particularly heartbreaking for me is that the building next to this playground is a New York City Department of Health building,” Ms. Ramos said.
Monday, January 26
8:33 a.m.
3651 Jerome Avenue, Norwood, the Bronx
Temperature: 19°F
3651 Jerome Avenue, Norwood, the Bronx
Temperature: 19°F
Daniel Alfonso Reyes Soria, 27, aspired to be a star. He dressed elegantly, his hair always combed to perfection as he danced on TikTok. He came to the United States from Colombia, seeking a free life as a gay man.
Yonotan Matheus, a social worker who knew him, said that when Mr. Soria wasn’t working retail or hanging out on Long Island with his family, he was hitting the dance floor.
Mr. Matheus learned of the peculiar circumstances surrounding Mr. Soria’s death from a GoFundMe page created by his sister, Louisa Reyes.
The post said that Mr. Soria hadn’t answered her calls for several days. When she found everything in order at his apartment, she said she “felt something was terribly wrong” and reported his disappearance to the police.
Mr. Soria’s naked body was found under a pile of snow at a construction site, his legs and face covered in abrasions, according to the post. The medical examiner’s office said he died of hypothermia, with methamphetamine a contributing factor, and deemed his death an accident.
Ms. Reyes hopes to repatriate her brother’s remains to Colombia so her family can say goodbye.
8:49 a.m. declared dead
Brought to Jacobi Medical Center, Morris Park, the Bronx
Temperature: 19°F
Brought to Jacobi Medical Center, Morris Park, the Bronx
Temperature: 19°F
Jerome Gilliard died at Jacobi Medical Center. The city said he was 68 but has not released details about where or when he was found.
8:58 a.m.
254 New York Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Temperature: 19°F
254 New York Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Temperature: 19°F
Doreen Ellis, 90, was born in Trinidad but had lived in New York City for at least 30 years, according to her nephew Neil Ellis, who came up from Virginia to visit her regularly.
“She was like my mom,” he said.
Mr. Ellis said his aunt, who lived with a grandson, had dementia. He had no idea why she had gone out into the snowstorm. She was found in an area in the back of the building that wasn’t easily accessible from her apartment.
“It’s cold, it’s very cold,” he said. “She’s supposed to run back inside, not go outside.”
Nearly a foot of snow fell between 5 a.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. Monday. At a news conference at 10 a.m. on Monday, Mr. Mamdani urged caution:
“Just because the storm has passed does not mean that the danger to homeless New Yorkers has passed.”
Tuesday, Jan. 27
6:29 a.m.
35-09 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Bayside, Queens
Temperature: 16°F
35-09 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Bayside, Queens
Temperature: 16°F
Philip Piuma, 47, left his home on Jan. 26 around 1:30 p.m. to pick up a prescription for his uncle at CVS. The next morning, he was found dead on a bench outside a Key Food supermarket a mile away.
Mr. Piuma’s stepfather, John Sandrowsky, said detectives told him that Mr. Piuma had fallen twice, possibly from the bench outside Key Food, broken his nose and injured his eye socket.
At around 6 p.m. on Jan. 26, Mr. Piuma entered the store and lurched unsteadily in the aisles, said a manager, Luis Polanco, who assumed he was drunk. Mr. Piuma bought two jars of peanut butter, went outside and sat on the bench.
At 9 p.m. when Mr. Polanco was closing up, Mr. Piuma was still there. “I asked, ‘Everything OK?’ He said ‘yes,’” Mr. Polanco said.
Security footage shows that sometime after 10 p.m., Mr. Piuma toppled over, sprawling across the bench. When Mr. Polanco arrived around 6 a.m. to open the store, Mr. Piuma did not stir when he greeted him. He called 911.
Mr. Sandrowsky said detectives told him that someone had given his stepson tissues for his bleeding face at some point. “You offered some help, that’s great,” he said. “But if you’re bleeding out there and it’s that cold, I would question whether or not you’re OK.”
Mr. Piuma, who worked two jobs — as a dispatcher for an alarm company and an ambulette service — was a devoted volunteer at a nearby church, Mr. Sandrowsky said. “He had a good heart,” he said.
Thursday, Jan. 29
9:20 a.m.
St. Mary’s Park, Mott Haven, the Bronx
Temperature: 13°F
St. Mary’s Park, Mott Haven, the Bronx
Temperature: 13°F
Kenneth Luna, 29, was always smiling. He gave warm hugs. He wrote in his journal about beautiful days in the rain.
When Maria Luna, his sister, told him she was pregnant on Jan. 28, he rejoiced, she said.
But Mr. Luna was “drowning” under the pressures of trying to stay employed while caring for his mother, who has schizophrenia and epilepsy, his sister said.
He cleared his head with long walks and Coors Banquet beer.
After kissing his sisters goodbye that night, Mr. Luna quietly slipped out of his mother’s apartment and into the freezing night wearing a thin burgundy jacket and pants. The next morning, he was found dead a seven-minute walk away in an icy pile of snow in St. Mary’s Park, a common refuge for him.
Ms. Luna received a call from the city medical examiner’s office asking her to identify his body a day later. She searched the park for footsteps, ambulance tire marks, a body imprint. Maybe someone would have brought flowers for him, she thought. Instead, she found something else: comfort.
“He was doing what he liked and walking where he would want to be,” she said.
11:10 p.m.
408 West 207th Street, Inwood, Manhattan
Temperature: 17°F
408 West 207th Street, Inwood, Manhattan
Temperature: 17°F
Anthony Watson, 70, was found on a windy corner.
Gordon Giesbrecht, a thermophysiologist and professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba, said that freezing to death happens in stages:
“If you’re exposed to the cold long enough, the first thing you feel is cold, then pain, then numb, then nothing.”
Friday, Jan. 30
9 a.m.
Outside Brooklyn Hospital Center, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Wind chill: -5°F
Outside Brooklyn Hospital Center, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Wind chill: -5°F
Jonathan Pender, 42, was found outside the Brooklyn Hospital Center.
11:35 a.m.
25th Street R train station, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Temperature: 12°F
25th Street R train station, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Temperature: 12°F
The body of Anthony Fabian, 49, was discovered on the underground platform.
Saturday, Jan. 31
9:29 a.m.
Port Authority Bus Terminal, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Temperature: 13°F
Port Authority Bus Terminal, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Temperature: 13°F
A 41-year-old man died at or outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the city said. His name has not been released.
At 10:06 a.m. on Saturday, Councilman Chi Ossé posted on X asking Mr. Mamdani for help securing city-funded housing for people who had lost power in the storm.
“This is insane. It is a Code Blue in New York City, freezing temperatures here on the streets. People are suffering.”
Sunday, Feb. 1
12:10 a.m.
Q train at 96th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Temperature: 15°F
Q train at 96th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Temperature: 15°F
Police responding to a report of an unconscious man on a train at an end-of-the-line station found Chingis Dabazhalsov, 34. He was pronounced dead at Metropolitan Hospital.
Tuesday, Feb. 3
4:47 p.m.
Woodhaven/Rockaway exit off the Long Island Expressway, Elmhurst, Queens
Temperature: 33°F
Woodhaven/Rockaway exit off the Long Island Expressway, Elmhurst, Queens
Temperature: 33°F
In the summer of 2024, a woman named Ivana was walking home from work when she saw feral cats slinking through the grass on a hillside wedged between the Long Island Expressway and an offramp. When she climbed to the top of the hill, she found a campsite strewed with garbage. A man was living there.
Ivana, who declined to give her last name, said she made regular visits to feed the cats and initially found the man to be gruff, but they became friendly.
During one of her visits, she said, a social services worker gave the man clothes and blankets and urged him to go to a shelter. He refused. Ivana said he would often seek refuge from harsh weather in a subway station on Woodhaven Boulevard.
When she arrived at the campsite on Feb. 3, she saw firefighters and knew immediately the man had not survived. He was 74 years old.
With another bitterly cold weekend expected, the city opened more shelter beds and warming centers. Mr. Mamdani made a plea during a 4 p.m. news conference on Friday:
“And to those who may consider themselves more comfortable on the streets, I want to speak directly to you, to implore you to come inside. These temperatures are too low and too dangerous to survive. Please wait out the cold in a safe place with a warm bed.”
Saturday, Feb. 7
9:11 a.m.
East Gun Hill Road and Seymour Avenue, Baychester, the Bronx
Wind chill: -5°F
Charles Williams, 86, puffed up with layers of coats, pushing his belongings in a wheeled cart, was a regular sight along Gun Hill Road, said Willie Baines, who lives in the neighborhood. He called Mr. Williams “the Elder.”
“He’s just cordial,” said Mr. Baines, 50. “He stayed to himself. He accepted what was given to him.”
Mr. Baines would sometimes slip a dollar or two to Mr. Williams, who liked to panhandle outside a Golden Krust restaurant next to the Eastchester Public Library. He also appreciated meals and sanitary wipes.
Because Mr. Williams seemed vulnerable at his age, Mr. Baines would ask him if he was all right.
“I’d say, ‘Hey, how you making it?’” Mr. Baines said. “‘Make sure you dress warm.’ He said he was.”
Mr. Baines said he had last seen Mr. Williams around two weeks ago. He presumed the Elder found somewhere warm to take shelter.
Tuesday, Feb. 10
8 p.m.
1 Eldridge Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Temperature: 35°F
1 Eldridge Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Temperature: 35°F
The man lived in an alcove under the Manhattan Bridge, which he had outfitted with piles of blankets and a mattress. It was a good spot, said acquaintances who also slept on the street. He had set it up nicely.
Those acquaintances described him as an older Chinese man with a cigarette habit and a hacking cough. He spoke very little English and would earn money by keeping an eye on the produce stands and spreads of trinkets that vendors would sell in the area. Pedro Leon, 45, who slept nearby, said the older man could count on the vendors to give him food.
“He had a lot of time on the streets,” Mr. Leon said. “He knew everybody around here.”
On Friday afternoon, inside the Lucia-D’Bari Funeral Home in the Bronx, Kenneth Luna was lying in a wooden casket lined with white ruffled satin. He was dressed, for the last time, in a pastel blue button-down and beige slacks.
Nearby in the small, softly lit parlor room, 44 chairs were set up in rows. Only five chairs were filled, by Mr. Luna’s mother, father, two sisters and his brother-in-law.
One by one, Mr. Luna’s family members stood at his side and wept through their goodbyes.
“They messed up his makeup,” said Nellie Luna, Mr. Luna’s youngest sister. “The eyeliner is too dark.”
Sitting in a row alone behind her family was Mr. Luna’s mother, staring at the gray carpet and shaking her head. They could stay only until 5 p.m. in order to make it to the crematory on time.
