35 year old chef. beaten to death His roommate in their Bronx NYCHA apartment had been complaining to friends about his uncomfortable living situation in recent weeks, the Daily News has learned.
Miguel Batiz He was struck in the head with an object at his Edenwald Houses NYCHA home around 4:00 a.m. on Oct. 23, authorities said. An argument with his 67-year-old roommate ended in murder at their home on E 229th Street, near Laconia Avenue, police said.
“He always had problems with his roommate,” said the victim's high school friend, Eric Burgos. “He always posted on his [Facebook] a story asking if anyone knows someone who is looking for a roommate and how they want to get out of the situation. This has been over the last six months or so.”
Batiz's roommate Pink Enoch was arrested later the day of the murder and charged with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession.
When officers found Batiz heavily bloodied and dead at the scene, they initially believed he had been stabbed multiple times, but his cause of death was ultimately determined to be blunt force trauma to the head, police said Sunday. Prosecutors say he was struck in the head with an object.
The shock killing left the victim's friends wondering if they had missed signs of a serious problem.
“I wish I could take those (Facebook) posts more seriously because he posted them quite often,” Burgos, 37, said. “I kind of thought, 'Oh, he was just giving an outlet.' But I had no idea he would end up in this situation.”
Stable housing has long been an issue for the victim.
“He was adopted, so he was constantly moving from apartment to apartment. He never stayed in one place. People put down roots, but he didn't have that,” said Duaney Bowden, a college friend of the victim.
“There were times when I wanted him to live with us, but he didn’t want to be a burden. I said, “No, you should come. I don’t want to see you living with random people and moving around a lot.” That's the only thing I was concerned about – his safety and making sure no one would harm him.”
Bowden remembered Batiz as a fun-loving guy who took pride in cooking Puerto Rican food for his many friends.
“He was just a giving person. He fed everyone. We had a lot of parties and he was always in charge of the parties, cooking and serving drinks to everyone,” she said. “We will miss him dearly. He was very smart, calm and calm.”
“He wanted to fall in love so bad. He wanted to have kids and get married. He wanted that love that he didn't get, I think, from being adopted and moving around and just trying to figure out his life and navigate it,” Bowden added.
“(Rosado) cheated him out of a good life. (Batiz) was only 35 years old. This man was 67 years old, so even if justice is served, he will die soon. He is an old man. I feel like he should live his life, whether he made bad decisions or not, and my friend's life was just cut short.”
Police said it was not immediately clear what the disagreement between the couple was, but friends said they could not portray Batiz as the aggressor.
“I know Miguel. He wouldn't have done anything to incite this kind of behavior. He may be as articulate as any New Yorker, but he has never been one to incite violence,” said Corey Francis, another of the victim's close college friends. “He was either focused on cooking or having a good time. That was all he was.”
Francis, 35, who attended culinary school at Monroe College with Batiz, said he and the victim were looking forward to the day they could attend each other's wedding and get their future children to play football together.
Batiz worked as a chef in many restaurants over the years. He also sold hot chocolate and soft drinks at Yankee Stadium to earn extra money and, more importantly, to catch a glimpse of the games.
“He was the biggest Yankees fan, so any chance he could, he would be at the game,” Francis said.
Batiz studied culinary arts in Italy for several months in college and hoped to study his craft again abroad.
The victim “wanted his name to mean something in the culinary world,” Francis said.
“He won't have a chance to experience any of this,” he added. “[Rosado] honestly took one of the brightest people in terms of the light you bring to the world.”
Rosado was ordered held without bail when he was arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court and is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 13. more than 30 previous arrestsmost are drug-related, PIX11 News reports.
“I don’t know exactly what was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Francis said of the suspect. “But whatever it was, it couldn't be more important than (Batis') life. I hope, and I know it sounds petty, but I hope (the suspect) burns in hell.”
