{"id":359597,"date":"2026-09-29T07:46:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359597\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T07:46:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:46:24","slug":"woman-beaten-to-death-in-central-park-idd-as-beloved-homeless-artist-famed-for-painting-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359597\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman beaten to death in Central Park ID’d as beloved homeless artist famed for painting birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A beloved homeless artist famed for painting the birds of Central Park was identified Monday as the woman found viciously murdered<\/a> in a gazebo near the park\u2019s boathouse \u2014 shocking the flock of eclectic friends she collected during her colorful life.<\/p>\n

Lee Rogers, 63, who buoyantly peddled intricate wildlife watercolors during her years of sleeping rough in the wooded Manhattan haven, died after being bludgeoned by a stick-wielding madman Sunday, law-enforcement sources said.<\/p>\n

Lee Rogers, also known as Elise Bainbridge Hill, is shown in a photo posted to Facebook on Feb. 26, 2021. Facebook\/Francis Lee Rogers<\/p>\n

Beloved homeless artist Lee Rogers, 63, known for her Central Park bird paintings, was found brutally murdered in a park gazebo. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was like the Grandma Moses of Central Park,\u201d said Robert DeCandido, a nature walk guide, referring to the famed 1950s American folk painter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she did the bird feeders, the birders loved her. They would buy her artwork in the park,\u201d DeCandido, who goes by \u201cBirding Bob,\u201d told The Post on Monday.<\/p>\n

An undated painting by Lee Rogers, also known as Elise Bainbridge Hill, is titled \u201cCentral Park Bird Feeders.\u201d Francis Lee Rogers<\/p>\n

Illustration of raccoons in a park at night, titled \u201cMother Racoon and young descending the cyclops tree 2016\u201d. Francis Lee Rogers<\/p>\n

The discovery of a body in the gazebo near 74th Street and East Drive quickly prompted rumors among Central Park birdwatchers \u2013 and homeless people who frequent the green space \u2013 that it was Rogers.<\/p>\n

The suspect \u2013 Jonathan Robles, 36 \u2013 turned himself in to authorities late Sunday, police said.<\/p>\n

Sources said Rogers and Robles got into some type of argument that escalated into violence, although the details were unclear.<\/p>\n

Candles are placed inside a Central Park gazebo where a 63-year-old homeless woman known as \u201cLee\u201d was found allegedly stabbed to death, Monday, September 28, 2026. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Rogers, also known as Elise Bainbridge Hill, was the subject of a 2007 documentary, \u201cBegging Naked,\u201d detailing her past. Instagram\/Francis Lee Rogers<\/p>\n

Rogers referred to herself as Francis Lee Rogers on her website and Facebook. Sources said she was also known as Elise Bainbridge Hill \u2013 a name that sheds some light on her murky past.<\/p>\n

Elise Bainbridge Hill, was the subject of the acclaimed 2007 documentary \u201cBegging Naked.\u201d Several people who knew Rogers confirmed the film \u2014 which was shot by her friend Karen Gehres over nearly a decade \u2014 documented her life and tragic path to homelessness.<\/p>\n

Rogers, or Hill, ran away from home as a teenager and came to New York City, where she fell into prostitution and drug addiction, the film shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joe Lopez, an acquaintance of a 63-year-old homeless woman known as \u201cLee\u201d who was found allegedly stabbed to death, stops by a Central Park gazebo with some of her artwork, where candles have been placed, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

She eventually worked as a stripper while she honed her prodigious skills in art, using her lusty neon-colored world as inspiration for paintings, the documentary details.<\/p>\n

But Rogers also battled mental illness \u2014 a struggle the documentary shows as she veered into paranoid fears about her studio, a converted air shaft near Carnegie Hall, being bugged.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Rogers lost her home and started sleeping in and around the park.<\/p>\n

The compassionate, yet tough-as-nails Rogers often cultivated an air of mystery as she became a fixture in the park, trodding out with a sketchbook and a twisted walking stick.<\/p>\n

When the New York Times profiled Rogers<\/a> \u2013 and compared her to naturalist artist John James Audubon \u2013 in 2012, Rogers politely declined to give her age or details about her life.<\/p>\n

Birders and parkgoers knew Rogers through her paintings, which she sold as she camped out at churches near the park.<\/p>\n

A painting by Lee Rogers titled \u201cCardinal on the bridle path the day the opossum appeared\u201d. Francis Lee Rogers<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many years I was homeless,\u201d she wrote on her website. \u201cI worked on my paintings at the Central Park boathouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeCandido said the outspoken Rogers became well-known among the park\u2019s nature lovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople got to like her a lot,\u201d he said, though he added she suffered from \u201cmental problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe once told me she had to watch the boathouse constantly because she was expecting someone to blow it up. She had some paranoia issues along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Rogers\u2019 friends \u2014 Joe Lopez \u2014 met her in 2016 when he bought one of her paintings depicting the famed red-tailed hawk known as \u201cPale Male\u201d<\/a> that made Central Park its haunt.<\/p>\n

A painting by Rogers titled \u201cA long eared owl hunts on west 76th street.\u201d Francis Lee Rogers<\/p>\n

Lopez, who knew Rogers as \u201ckind and sweet and soft,\u201d clutched the painting Monday as he visited the gazebo bench where she often slept to pay his profound respects.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was fun to talk to, she knew wildlife, she knew animal behavior,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like she just sat there and painted, she really knew more than an artist would about these animals. And I found that intriguing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogers lived on and off in the park for years, sometimes spent time in shelters and managed to get off the streets for a spell when a fellow birder gave her a place to stay in their home several years ago, DeCandido said.<\/p>\n

But the nature-loving artist ended up back in the park, and her health seemed to decline over the last four or five years, DeCandido said.<\/p>\n

A painting Rogers titled \u201c2017 A common loon on the Central Park reservoir\u201d. Francis Lee Rogers<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was more standoffish, more reclusive,\u201d DeCandido said, recounting that she also lost weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a tent set up across from one of the benches. It was kind of just a shroud she would hide under. She would just look off in a daze,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was not the Lee I remember from 10 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moje Ramirez, 51, who is homeless, said he knew both Rogers and Robles, the man accused of killing her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He described Robles as homeless and someone who couldn\u2019t control his actions when under the influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he\u2019s under the influence, he does whatever he wants to get his space, and that makes him a bad person,\u201d Ramirez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey both knew each other well. He lived here and she lived here. They didn\u2019t get along but they were regulars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robles was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan court on murder and criminal possession of a weapon charges Monday.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A beloved homeless artist famed for painting the birds of Central Park was identified Monday as the woman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4709,1015,57,9,24,55,54,56,103,58],"class_list":["post-359597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-central-park","tag-deaths","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-nypd","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359597","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=359597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}