{"id":25761,"date":"2025-11-02T11:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T11:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/25761\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T11:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T11:26:11","slug":"a-hard-working-autistic-man-who-feared-riding-the-subway-was-killed-walking-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/25761\/","title":{"rendered":"A hard working autistic man who feared riding the subway was killed walking home"},"content":{"rendered":"

A hardworking autistic Bronx man who avoided the subway after a beatdown left him in fear of the city\u2019s transit system was shot to death<\/a> when he was mugged on his long walk home from his late-night shift at an Amazon warehouse, his heartbroken family says.<\/p>\n

Ronell Marte, 26, was nearly done with his 50-minute walk home from his night shift when he cut through Starlight Park to save a little time \u2014 only to be confronted by two muggers in the predawn hours of Sept. 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took a shortcut through the park and, heartbreakingly, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time<\/a>, and only five minutes away from home,\u201d his sister Nelroby Marte wrote in a GoFundMe that raised more than $1,000 for his funeral services.<\/p>\n

\u201cRonell had been jumped on the train before from an attempted robbery, so walking felt like the safer option to him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Responding to a 911 call at 2:49 a.m. police to found Marte with a gunshot wound to the chest and his cell phone stolen inside the park near West Farms Rd. and E. 174th St. in West Farms. Medics rushed Marte to St. Barnabas Hospital<\/a>, where he died.<\/p>\n

\"RonellRonell Marte was fatally shot in Starlight Park, on a path that runs parallel to the Amtrak tracks along the Bronx River on the eastern side of the park, near W. Farms Rd. and E. 174th St. in the Bronx early Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the best of our family \u2014 the kind of person you wish you could be more like,\u201d his sister wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, Ronell faced bullying in middle and high school for seeming a little different, but he never let it harden him or his heart. His heart remained pure and soft, his spirit joyful, and his laugh was so contagious that it could lift you up from your lowest point, making you feel just as joyful as him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cops have arrested two men for Marte\u2019s murder. Axel Martinez, 20, was cuffed on Sept. 18, two weeks after the slaying, while Luis Alberto Lopez Castillo, 19, turned himself in at the 43 Precinct stationhouse<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"RonellRonell Marte was fatally shot while cutting through Starlight Park on his way home from working the night shift at an Amazon warehouse on Sept. 4, 2025. (GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

Both men are charged with murder, manslaughter, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon for acting together to rob Marte before gunning him down and leaving him to die in the secluded Bronx greenspace, cops said.<\/p>\n

Lopez Castillo was ordered held without bail during his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Police say the robbery that ended in Marte\u2019s death was the suspects\u2019 second stickup that day. The armed duo allegedly beat and robbed a 21-year-old man about a mile away on Beach Ave. near the Cross Bronx Expressway at 12:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

That man gave up his cell phone and $120 to the crooks but escaped with his life, cops said.<\/p>\n

Both men have arrest records, including a July 10 robbery in which Martinez and Lopez Castillo, acting with an accomplice who is still at large, viciously beat a man before taking his phone and wallet on 41st Ave. near Parsons Blvd. in Queens, prosecutors with the Queens District Attorney\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n

Martinez was also apprehended along with three other men after police raided a Bronx apartment on E. 178th St. near Hughes Ave. and found several vials of cocaine and dozens of rounds of .38-caliber ammunition on April 25, court records show.<\/p>\n

\"RonellRonell Marte was fatally shot in Starlight Park, on a path that runs parallel to the Amtrak tracks along the Bronx River on the eastern side of the park, near W. Farms Rd. and E. 174th St. in the Bronx early Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

As the eldest of three siblings, Ronell was the first to go to college, earning an associate\u2019s degree in graphic design from Hostos Community College, his proud sister wrote.<\/p>\n

After graduating, Ronell signed up with Amazon, first as a delivery driver and later working in one of the online retail behemoth\u2019s Bronx warehouses, a job he had held down for about three years before he was killed, a cousin told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

\"RonellRonell Marte was fatally shot in Starlight Park, on a path that runs parallel to the Amtrak tracks along the Bronx River on the eastern side of the park, near W. Farms Rd. and E. 174th St. in the Bronx early Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very hardworking,\u201d said Richard Jean-Baptiste Marte, 28. \u201cHe would go straight to work and come back to his family. Never caused any issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis life was in order. He was heading in the right direction,\u201d the cousin added. \u201cHe definitely had a slow start but he would have made it far in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jean-Baptiste Marte said his cousin appeared younger than his years and was targeted by bullies and crooks as a result, including once while working as an Amazon delivery cyclist. Ronell returned from work that day battered and bruised but with his belongings intact, his cousin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey thought he was a really shy kid, an easy target,\u201d said Jean-Baptiste Marte. \u201cHe must have put up a fight because he came back home all bruised up and stuff but he still had everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RonellRonell Marte was fatally shot in Starlight Park, on a path that runs parallel to the Amtrak tracks along the Bronx River on the eastern side of the park, near W. Farms Rd. and E. 174th St. in the Bronx early Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

But it was after a second robbery attempt against Marte aboard an MTA subway train that he decided it was safer to commute by foot than rely on the city\u2019s transit system, his cousin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tried to rob him and he got into a physical altercation,\u201d Jean-Baptiste Marte said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t really like public transportation at that point. He decided walking from his job was the safer bet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of crazy. He probably just wanted to get home quick. Starlight (Park) is basically his shortcut to the house. I kind of wish he had just went the long way. That\u2019s a secluded area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronell Marte\u2019s sudden death has devastated his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis loss has left us shattered,\u201d his sister Nelroby Marte wrote. \u201cOur family is heartbroken, lost, and struggling to comprehend how such a bright light could be taken from this world. Ronell was truly an angel on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Tracy and Sheetal Banchariya<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hardworking autistic Bronx man who avoided the subway after a beatdown left him in fear of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-25761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-crime","20":"tag-sub-county-region","21":"tag-the-bronx","22":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","23":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}