Latest news with #MiguelJiraud
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
How GPS ankle monitor exposed ex-con accused in Randalls Island attack of single mom Diana Agudelo
Hours after allegedly bashing in Diana Agudelo's skull during a chance encounter on Randall's Island, ex-con Miguel Jiraud tried to paint himself as a good Samaritan who did the right thing and called 911 after innocently finding his victim's broken body near a bike path. But his court-ordered GPS ankle monitor — a stark, uncomfortable reminder of his past crimes — exposed his lie, cops and prosecutors said Saturday. The ankle monitor put the 30-year-old parolee right at the spot where Agudelo, 44, was found at the exact time police believe she was attacked on May 16, cops said. An illuminated headlamp on Agudelo's cherished black and blue e-bike also flashed a light on Jiraud's alleged crime, catching an NYPD detective's eye as he reviewed hours of dark surveillance footage near the spot where the bloody assault took place. 'I observed an individual on the shoreline throwing what appears to be a large object with an illuminated headlight into the river,' Detective Anthony Ippolito wrote as he outlined his case against Jiraud in court papers. 'I then observed the individual leave the shoreline and walk towards 64 Sunken Garden Loop, which is a shelter located on Wards Island.' Jiraud is a resident of the shelter. Reviewing surveillance footage inside and outside the building, Det. Ippolito saw Jiraud wearing a beige sweater with the word 'ESSENTIALS' on the front, wet, light-colored jeans, and wet Timberland boots. Detectives noted that his hands appeared to be cut and bloody. He entered the shelter at 11:51 p.m., just 20 minutes after Agudelo rolled onto Randall's Island and 15 minutes after her e-bike was thrown into the East River, prosecutors said. Police say he called 911 about six hours after Agudelo was attacked to report a woman was lying near a bike path. Despite all the mounting evidence against him, Jiraud proclaimed his innocence as he was taken to court Friday, where he was ordered held without bail on attempted murder charges. 'I did nothing wrong! I found her!' Jiraud screamed to reporters as he was put into a squad car outside the 25th Precinct stationhouse in Harlem. 'I've done nothing wrong since I've been out. Not a violation, not jumping the turnstiles! Nothing!' Agudelo's daughter Stephanie Rosas was left stunned by Jiraud's defiance. 'I think he's very inhumane,' she told the Daily News. 'I think the things [Jiraud is saying] is ridiculous, because if he really is innocent, then why did someone tell me about his ankle monitor and that it was showing the location, that he was there at the time that it happened?' The night Agudelo was attacked appeared pretty routine — at least at first. Through interviews with co-workers and recovered surveillance footage, detectives determined she left her job at the Museum of the City of New York on Fifth Ave. at E. 103rd St. on her TotGuard e-bike at 11:23 p.m. on May 16. At the time, Agudelo was wearing a pink sweatshirt, black pants, shoes, and carried a light blue backpack, cops said. Cops tracked her from the museum to the 103rd St. footbridge, which took her to Wards Island on the southern tip of Randall's Island. It was 11:31 p.m. She was expected to ride around the southern tip and take the RFK Bridge into Queens, which would put her just a few blocks from her Astoria apartment, but she vanished after riding into a dead zone a few hundred yards from the bridge where there are no surveillance cameras. Cops weren't alerted to the attack until about 5:15 a.m. the next morning when Agudelo's battered, bloody body was found sprawled out on an outcropping of rocks 'in a grassy area just north of the 103rd Street footbridge,' cops said in court papers. The 911 call came from Jiraud, who gave the dispatcher a fake name 'because he was on parole and concerned with police contact,' Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Edward Smith said at the ex-con's arraignment Friday night. Jiraud claimed he was on his way to work at another Wards Island shelter around dawn when he found Agudelo's body. One of her black Skechers sneakers was found in a trash can near the scene, cops told the family. About six hours after she was attacked, EMS rushed Agudelo to Elmhurst hospital. Her chance of recovery was grim, Smith said. 'The victim is not expected to survive and has already undergone multiple brain surgeries and remains unconscious in a coma,' he said at court. Agudelo also had deep cuts and abrasions on her back and a 'penetrating wound to her left temple,' according to court records. Rodas, 21, has kept a constant vigil by her unresponsive mother's bedside. But there was one point where she believed her mother tried to reach out to her. 'She was tearing up with me because I was crying,' Rodas recalled. 'It was before her surgery. I think a few hours before. And I was just begging her, 'Please don't go, please don't go.' Like I still am waiting for her. 'I told her, 'I'll be waiting here for you,' and that she better come back,' she said. 'And then I saw her tearing. I saw one tear.' Agudelo's family has been left shattered by the attack. In Colombia, the victim's mother had a heart attack and had to be hospitalized when she heard the news, Rodas said. As a Saturday, more than $52,000 has been raised for Agudelo's medical care through a GoFundMe post. The money will help — and remind the wounded family that there are actual good Samaritans in this world. Not just predators in disguise. Data-driven investigation still has unanswered questions Detectives were able to track the 911 call to Jiraud, who had spent nine years in prison for rape in the Bronx in 2013 when he was 16. When he was paroled in September, he was ordered to wear an ankle monitor that tracked his movements. After discovering the footage of someone throwing the e-bike into the river near where Agudelo was attacked, cops sent divers into the water on May 20 and found the single mom's e-bike 'approximately seven feet from the shoreline.' Jiraud's GPS monitor filled in the rest of the blanks, the detective noted. 'At approximately 11:32 PM, the defendant's GPS ankle monitor places him just north of the 103rd Street footbridge in the area where the victim's body was found,' Ippolito wrote in the complaint against Jiraud. 'Thereafter, the defendant's GPS ankle monitor shows him traveling towards the shoreline where the victim's e-bike was recovered. As the defendant is moving from the north to the south, between 11:32 PM to 11:36 PM, the defendant appears to be traveling at varying speeds, up to 16 MPH.' Police believe Jiraud rode the e-bike to the spot where he threw it into the water. He then was caught on camera walking back to his shelter. But while detectives have a solid case against Jiraud teeming with GPS data and surveillance footage, it's not clear why he attacked Agudelo, police admitted. At Jiraud's arraignment, Smith noted that the ex-con was just released from prison eight months ago. After being convicted, he was also accused of 'promoting prison contraband while incarcerated,' he said. 'Clearly, he has already demonstrated that he cannot abide by any terms of release,' Smith explained. A history of violence Jiraud has been on the state's sex offender registry ever since his rape conviction. In that case, he was accused of raping, beating and choking a 28-year-old woman inside a Courtlandt Ave. apartment building near E. 165th St. in the Melrose section of the Bronx on Feb. 23, 2011. 'Don't scream, I swear I'll shoot you, you white b—h,' the 16-year-old suspect screamed at his victim as he choked her into unconsciousness, prosecutors said at the time. Jiraud took the woman up to the roof where he raped and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said. 'Don't fight it or I will kill you,' he said as he threatened to throw her off the roof, according to court papers. 'You're the third one I've had.' He also said he was about to jump on a plane at JFK. 'You'll never see me again,' he said. After his arrest, he admitted that he followed his victim for one block before grabbing her in the elevator. 'I pulled her pants down and began to rape her,' he confessed. 'I seriously injured her.' Jiraud's family said the parolee was trying to cobble his life back together as he eked out a living on Randall's Island. The ex-con told them that he had found Agudelo and was 'cooperating with police,' but didn't believe he was responsible for the attack. 'He's been doing so good,' the suspect's older brother, Luis Jiraud, told The News. 'He works there, lives there. [He] reported this. I think they're going by his history. He ain't going to be stupid.' Jiraud's niece believes detectives pinned the attack on him solely on his prior criminal record. 'It happens all the time,' Doris Jiraud said. 'Even the people from the shelter are also saying they don't believe [the charges]. 'He's doing so good,' she said about her uncle. 'He got employment really fast. He got in all his paperwork that he needed. His parole officer was happy for him. He's been viewing apartments to get housed. So I don't understand.'
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Twisted man who 'beat up woman on NYC bike path' was out on PAROLE for rape
A twisted rapist, who allegedly beat a New York City mom nearly to death on her way home from work, was out on parole when he attacked her. Miguel Jiraud, 30, was charged with attempted murder at his arraignment hearing on Friday for allegedly beating Diana Aguelo, 44, of Astoria, Queens, while she was biking home on Randall's Island around 11:30pm on May 16. The vicious attack left the single mother-of-two unconscious and in a coma and in need of two emergency surgeries, including removing part of her skull. 'She almost had to resuscitate her,' her daughter, Stephanie Rodas, 21, sobbed to the New York Post. 'She's still in critical condition right now – even though she came through the second one, thank God she did.' Jiraud was on parole for a rape charge at the time of the attack and was wearing an ankle monitor, which police used to help trace him before his arrest on Friday. The rapist allegedly called police after the attack to let them know where Agudelo was six hours after he attacked her, sources told The Post. Police later found her stolen e-bike near the East River and Jiraud's ankle monitor indicated that he was traveling around 16 mph near the scene, sources told The Post. It later showed that he went back to where Aguedelo was and where he called 911. Jiraud was on parole for a rape charge at the time of the attack and was wearing an ankle monitor, which police used to help trace him before his arrest on Friday Jiraud, who was living in a homeless shelter on the island, insisted to police that he just 'found her' and that he was not the source of the crime. 'I was the one that found her and stood there for an hour and went to work late,' he later told a reporter who asked if he beat her, before showing his unmarred hands. The mother-of-two, who remains unconscious, suffered facial fractures, a cracked skull, and a broken nose after the attack. Her own daughter didn't recognize her when she saw her for the first time after the attack, she told the New York Daily News. 'She was so swollen you couldn't even recognize her,' she told the outlet. 'Her eye was black, pitch-black. When you opened her eye, it was bloodshot red. She couldn't even move. She couldn't talk. She was on life support. She was a bloody mess.' NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny called the beating 'one of the worst beatings I've ever seen.' Rodas was informed by doctors her mother could 'succumb to her injuries at any time,' she told the New York Daily News. Doctors fear the 44-year-old won't be able to use the right side of her body and could lose vision in one eye. She may also suffer from life-long seizure problems, The Post reported. 'She will have memory issues. We don't know what we she will remember. There's a possibility that she could forget about me,' the 21-year-old cried to The Daily News. Agudelo's workplace, the Museum of the City of New York, started a GoFundMe. 'Our thoughts are with Diana, her loved ones, and our colleagues during this difficult time,' it wrote in a Facebook post. 'We are devastated that Diana Agudelo, a cherished member of our staff at the Museum of the City of New York, was violently attacked while biking home through Randall's Island.' The fundraiser has garnered more than $51,000 as of Saturday morning. Jiraud was previously convicted of raping a 28-year-old woman in February 2011 when he was 16 years old. He choked the woman on a Bronx rooftop before sexually assaulting her. He was released on parole for the crime in August and it is set to expire in 2040, sources told The Post. He was convinced in 2013 with a sentence of 12 years. 'What's the point of parole if it's not protecting anyone?' Rodas questioned to The Post. 'It's more like giving them freedom for what? To do what they did to my mom. 'He went from raping someone to attempted murder, and God knows if he's going to be successful and leave me without a mom.' The young woman, a student at John Jay College, called her mother her best friend and someone who loved music and travel, she told The Post. She said her mother had the 'kindest and sweetest soul you've ever met.' 'If I could describe her, I would just say being around her was like eating a cupcake. It was so sweet, it would make you feel warm and good inside,' she told The Daily News. 'I just want to wake up from this bad nightmare, just wake up next to my mom. I just want to give my mom a big hug, but I can't even hold her, I can't even touch her,' she told The Post.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
Convicted rapist on parole charged with attempted murder after brutal attack leaves NYC mother in coma
A man who was free on parole after spending more than a decade behind bars for rape was arrested Friday on suspicion of beating a New York woman. Miguel Jiraud, 30, was charged with attempted murder for allegedly attacking 44-year-old Diana Agudelo, a single mother of two, as she rode her electric bicycle on Randall's Island on her way home to Queens, according to the New York Post. Young Nyc Woman Stabbed In Neck With Glass Shard While Strolling Around Ritzy Shopping Hub The alleged attack happened May 16 around 11:30 p.m., and Jiraud is accused of beating Agudelo, stealing her bicycle and leaving her, according to Fox 5. She reportedly had facial fractures and a cracked skull and was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where she remains in critical condition. She has been in a coma since she was found. FOX 5 reported that Agudelo rode her bicycle to and from work to help save money for her children's college educations. Read On The Fox News App After leaving the courthouse, a shackled Jiraud denied beating Agudelo while he was being placed in a police vehicle. Meat Cleaver-wielding Man Stabs Young Girls In Bloody Nyc Attack As 110Year-old Calls 911: Police "I found her," he told a reporter. "The evidence is going to speak for itself. Do you want to see my hands? My hands are perfect." "I found her," he repeated. "I stood there for an hour and went to work late. They did not say that." The reporter then confronted him about his rape conviction. "And I've not done nothing wrong since I've been home," he said. "Not a violation, not a traffic stop." The NYPD did not immediately return a comment article source: Convicted rapist on parole charged with attempted murder after brutal attack leaves NYC mother in coma
Fox News
24-05-2025
- Fox News
Convicted rapist on parole charged with attempted murder after brutal attack leaves NYC mother in coma
A man who was free on parole after spending more than a decade behind bars for rape was arrested Friday on suspicion of beating a New York woman. Miguel Jiraud, 30, was charged with attempted murder for allegedly attacking 44-year-old Diana Agudelo, a single mother of two, as she rode her electric bicycle on Randall's Island on her way home to Queens, according to the New York Post. The alleged attack happened May 16 around 11:30 p.m., and Jiraud is accused of beating Agudelo, stealing her bicycle and leaving her, according to FOX 5. She reportedly had facial fractures and a cracked skull and was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where she remains in critical condition. She has been in a coma since she was found. FOX 5 reported that Agudelo rode her bicycle to and from work to help save money for her children's college educations. After leaving the courthouse, a shackled Jiraud denied beating Agudelo while he was being placed in a police vehicle. "I found her," he told a reporter. "The evidence is going to speak for itself. Do you want to see my hands? My hands are perfect." "I found her," he repeated. "I stood there for an hour and went to work late. They did not say that." The reporter then confronted him about his rape conviction. "And I've not done nothing wrong since I've been home," he said. "Not a violation, not a traffic stop." The NYPD did not immediately return a comment request.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man charged with attempted murder after woman found beaten on Randall's Island
EAST HARLEM (PIX11) — A man has been charged after a woman was found beaten unconscious on Randall's Island, according to police. Miguel Jiraud, 30, was arrested just before 8:30 a.m. on Friday and charged with attempted murder, authorities say. More Local News Police had been searching for a suspect after a 44-year-old woman was found lying on a bike path on May 17. Officials previously reported that the woman had been walking near East 125th Street in Harlem when she was punched multiple times in the head. The woman remains in critical condition in the hospital, authorities say. Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
