The 63-year-old woman found dead in Central Park on Sunday has been identified, and she was a well-known figure to the birders and regulars who frequent the park.
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She was Francis Lee Rogers, known as Lee, a homeless artist who painted the birds of the Ramble and had lived largely in and around the park for perhaps three decades, The New York Times reported. She also went by the name Elise Bainbridge Hill, according to The Times.Officers found her unconscious near East Drive and East 74th Street at about 9:43 a.m. Sunday, and police later charged a Midtown man with her murder. The Times reported that she was found in the rustic wooden gazebo where she spent her nights, a short walk from the Central Park Boathouse.
Two law enforcement officials told The Times that she was found barefoot and covered in dirt, that she’d been stabbed repeatedly and her head severely beaten, and that her long graying hair, which she wore in tight braids, had been shaved off.
Jonathan Robles, 36, walked into the Central Park police precinct shortly after the attack and told officers that a woman in the park had threatened him, one of the officials told The Times. He later told investigators that he killed Rogers, according to the official, who said Robles had been arrested twice before in New York City, both times for nonviolent crimes, including leaving an IHOP without paying. He’s charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Rogers spent her days painting the Ramble’s birds and kept up a network of feeders she’d hung from lines looped over high branches. “For years, she was the only person maintaining those bird feeders in the Ramble,” wildlife photographer Lincoln Karim, who knew her for about 25 years, told The Times.
Her friends told the paper she sold hundreds of paintings over the years, mostly by word of mouth among local birders. She also worked at a regular table in the Boathouse’s cafe section, where she’d nurse a cup of coffee for hours and often use its plastic lid as a palette. Dean Poll, who operated the restaurant from 2000 until 2022, told The Times she was like family and made the staff Christmas cards they still have.
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Karim said smaller works sold for $300 and a large oil painting went for $1,200. Joe Lopez, a caterer who knew her for 15 years, said he bought several of her illustrations for as much as $400, including one of Pale Male, the red-tailed hawk that famously nested on a Fifth Avenue building.On Monday, Upper East Sider Moises Diaz, 71, lit a candle for Rogers at the gazebo, The Times reported. Diaz, who’s also an artist, had seen her for years on his daily walks and played a recording of a conversation they’d had about six months ago. “She had a beautiful voice,” he said.
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