{"id":389368,"date":"2026-11-01T01:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T01:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/389368\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T01:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T01:00:14","slug":"9-unclaimed-homeless-new-yorkers-who-froze-to-death-last-winter-to-get-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/389368\/","title":{"rendered":"9 unclaimed homeless New Yorkers who froze to death last winter to get funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unclaimed bodies of nine homeless people who froze to death<\/a> on the city\u2019s streets last winter will finally get a proper funeral and a permanent resting place, thanks to a group of generous New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

The nine were among 18 homeless people found dead outside during last winter\u2019s brutal cold stretch when temperatures plunged as low as 3 degrees. While relatives claimed the remains of half of the victims, the other bodies were headed for burial on Hart Island, the city\u2019s Potter\u2019s Field off the Bronx coast.<\/p>\n

But Rhonda Roland Shearer, the founder of the nonprofit Art Science Research Laboratory and Cut Red Tape 4 Heroes, intervened.<\/p>\n

St. Thomas Church is hosting the service. Erin Edwards for the New York Post<\/p>\n

Now the nine will receive a funeral service at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue on Monday, Nov. 2, at 5:30 p.m. during an All Souls Day Mass.\u00a0Their ashes will be laid to rest throughout the church\u2019s Resurrection Chapel. The service is open to the public.<\/p>\n

They are:<\/p>\n

James Paul Smith, 51: Born in South Carolina. Died of hypothermia on Dec. 3, 2025, and found near East 150th Street and Melrose Avenue in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Manjeet Singh, 38: Originally from India, son of Satpal and Amarjit. Found dead Died Dec. 5, 2025, along the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens. Hypothermia contributed to his death.<\/p>\n

Harold Hemphill, 66: Born in South Carolina to Janie and James. Died of hypothermia on Dec. 13, 2025, found at West 173rd Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights.<\/p>\n

Tomeka Ryeshera Gibson, 39: Born in Manhattan. Died of hypothermia on Dec. 22, 2025, at West 135th Street and Broadway in Harlem.<\/p>\n

Jorge Elias Rivera Torres, 61: Born in Puerto Rico. Died of hypothermia on Dec. 30, 2025, near Gardner and Metropolitan Avenues in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Costa, 47: Born in Queens to Linney and Americo. Died of hypothermia on Jan. 21, 2026, and was found on Queens Boulevard.<\/p>\n

Edward \u201cEduardo\u201d Adames, 54: Died of hypothermia on Jan. 24, 2026, after being found near First Avenue and East 69th Street in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Jose M. \u201cJoseph\u201d Pena, 74: Had lived near the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway in Queens since 2020. Died there of hypothermia on Feb. 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

Igor Zapevalov, 64: Originally from Russia, he had lived in Manhattan for 10 years. Died of hypothermia on Feb. 10, 2026, found in a doorway vestibule on East 7th Street in the East Village.<\/p>\n

In Christianity, All Souls Day is when the church<\/a> remembers and honors those who have died.<\/p>\n

The nine deceased were set to be buried on Hart Island before intervention. Joel Sternfeld<\/p>\n

A homeless individual who froze to death in February. Peter Gerber<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re honoring and purely recognizing the humanity in each person,\u201d Shearer told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along with Shearer and the church, non-profit Housing Works helped arrange the event. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Patrick J. Marmo, owner of International Funeral & Cremation Services of New York, graciously donated the funeral arrangements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rhonda Roland Shearer claimed their remains from the Medical Examiner\u2019s office. Keith Barraclough<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a lifelong New Yorker and a funeral director for over 30 years, I have always believed that every life deserves to be honored with dignity and respect,\u201d Marmo said.<\/p>\n

Shearer said she hopes the funeral brings awareness to the vulnerable individuals who die on the street each winter <\/a>and urges the city to better prepare to help them in the coming months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this will make everybody more alert to prevent this again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The unclaimed bodies of nine homeless people who froze to death on the city\u2019s streets last winter will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[21977,30087,10687,8293,2000,57,9,24,55,54,56,63,58],"class_list":["post-389368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-church","tag-episcopal-church","tag-funeral","tag-hart-island","tag-homelessness","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389368","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=389368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}