The estranged wife of Jorge Gonzalez, the man who was robbed and sexually violated after his death on a Manhattan subway train, expressed her disbelief after learning the horrifying details from police.
Gonzalez, 37, was discovered deceased on an R train on April 9.
Authorities revealed that a stranger had sex with his corpse and robbed him in the subway car, with a woman subsequently robbing him again just minutes later.
His wife, who gave her name only as Teresa, 38, was left astounded by how a man who once showed so much promise could meet such a shocking fate.
The couple’s 13-year-old son overheard her conversation with the police about Gonzalez’s death and the grim events that unfolded afterwards.
“When the police told me about the assault, he heard on speakerphone,” Teresa recounted from her home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
“I didn’t realize that’s what they were going to tell me — until it was too late.”
An initial autopsy was inconclusive regarding Gonzalez’s cause of death, with additional studies still pending, the city Medical Examiner’s office informed on Tuesday.
However, Teresa was told that investigators believe Gonzalez died from cirrhosis of the liver, a condition attributed to his years of alcoholism.
Teresa, who was born in the United States, met her Mexican-born husband when she was just 15 while celebrating her quinceañera in Mexico, where he lived with family.
The couple married when Teresa was 24, after Gonzalez emigrated to the U.S. in search of a better life.
According to Teresa, he was a hardworking man who held jobs in construction, restaurants, and various roles to support his relatives in Mexico.
He possessed an adventurous and cosmopolitan spirit despite his humble beginnings.
“Even though he was from the countryside, he adapted to any situation,” she recalled.
“We could go eat a steak or sushi at a nice place — or, at the same time, we could go to the corner and get tacos and stuff.
I really couldn’t do that with other friends.”
Their son was born around the time they tied the knot, and the couple enjoyed a brief period of happiness.
However, Gonzalez later descended into addiction, which caused him to lose jobs and ultimately leave his family five years ago.
“We were happy.
Yes, we were.
But the pressures of life, new marriage, new child, I was working a lot, he was working a lot, and slowly he just became an alcoholic,” Teresa explained.
“He was putting the alcohol over everything else.”
“Then, he just took off and rode into the sunset,” she added, describing their split.
“We were having issues.
He just decided to leave the house, and that was pretty much it.
Once or twice he would call.”
Gonzalez was reported to have gone through multiple rehab stints, but Teresa shared that he was unable to maintain sobriety for long.
“That’s the biggest reason why he ended up in the situation where he was,” she noted.
“There was just no way for him to stop.”
“I didn’t even talk to him for five years; I had no idea where he was,” added Teresa.
“He just disappeared.”
Then came the phone call from the police.
“Now I really don’t have a dad,” their son reacted after hearing the grim details of his father’s death, Teresa recounted.
“I was shocked.
Just shocked and more than anything scared for (Gonzalez’s) mom.
She has advanced diabetes, so anything really shocking can set her off.
I was scared more than anything for her.”
An MTA train conductor discovered Gonzalez facedown on the floor of the idling train at the Whitehall St. subway stop in lower Manhattan shortly after 12:30 a.m.
This station serves as the terminal for R trains coming from Brooklyn during late hours.
The gruesome crimes were uncovered when police reviewed surveillance footage from the subway car.
Around 11 p.m., a man—believed to be in his 50s—boarded the train, saw the deceased Gonzalez, and began rifling through his pockets, stealing his belongings.
He then allegedly engaged in sexual acts with the corpse before finally leaving the train at 12:10 a.m.
About 20 minutes later, the MTA conductor found the body, unaware that a woman had also come upon the corpse, rifling through the pockets and taking more of his belongings.
Investigators determined Gonzalez boarded the train around 8 p.m., lighting a cigarette given to him by another rider, filling the carriage with smoke.
Surveillance footage showed the sparse number of passengers moving to another car, leaving Gonzalez to die quietly.
Authorities reported no apparent signs of trauma, and no drugs or drug paraphernalia were discovered on the train car.
The suspect identified for sexual misconduct is described as approximately 5-foot-9 and weighing 195 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes, and sporting a goatee.
He was last seen wearing an L.A. Dodgers cap.
Police have released surveillance footage in hopes of tracking him down and are seeking the public’s assistance with the investigation.
Photos of the woman involved in the robbery have also been released.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, with all calls remaining confidential.
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