Linda Clary had reached her breaking level.
The grieving mom stormed out of a Manhattan courtroom throughout the closing arguments of her son’s three-week-long homicide trial in February.
Within the restroom down the corridor, she fell to her knees, praying for her son, the jurors, and the three males on trial for his homicide and that of one other younger man.
As she prayed, one other mom entered — the mom of one of many defendants, Jacob Barroso.
“I immediately stood up and she said ‘Are you alright?’ and I said ‘No, I’m not,'” Clary mentioned.
The 2 moms embraced.
“It was two moms who are in agony and pain, coming together and somehow appreciating each other’s agony and pain,” she mentioned by way of tears. “And I feel like it was truly a divine, other kingdomly moment that words cannot describe.”
However prayers couldn’t save both son.
Linda Clary holds a household photograph of each herself and her son John Umberger at her dwelling in Highlands, N.C., in 2023. (Will Crooks for NBC Information)
“I don’t get to see John”
On Wednesday, Barroso, 32, Jayqwan Hamilton, 37, and Robert DeMaio, 36 have been sentenced to many years in jail for murdering Clary’s son, 33-year-old John Umberger, and 25-year-old Julio Ramirez within the spring of 2022.
The trio labored collectively to drug and rob Umberger, Ramirez and three others — who survived — after having met them exterior standard metropolis homosexual bars and nightclubs, based on prosecutors.
The defendants drugged the victims to the purpose of unconsciousness — utilizing a concoction that included fentanyl — earlier than they used their lifeless faces to unlock their cellphones by way of facial recognition know-how. With entry to the victims’ gadgets, the lads drained hundreds of {dollars} from their banking apps and used fee apps to purchase meals, sneakers, alcohol and different objects, prosecutors mentioned.
All three defendants have been convicted of Ramirez’s homicide, whereas Hamilton and DeMaio have been convicted of Umberger’s. All three had maintained their innocence.
Barroso’s mom and members of the family of the opposite males convicted of homicide couldn’t be reached for remark.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that Jacob Barroso’s mother loves him, his uncle loves him, his family loves him. And they showed up as much as I did during the trial,” Clary said. “And yet something happened, and he lost his way.”
“They still get to see each other,” she added. “I don’t get to see John.”
The final time Clary noticed her son was three years in the past when she went to gather his physique.
It is that second, she mentioned, that fuels her endurance.
She spent the subsequent three years relentlessly urgent the New York Metropolis Police Division, the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace, the mayor’s workplace, the media and anybody who would pay attention, decided to make sure that her son’s case was not forgotten.
Clary traveled from her dwelling in North Carolina to New York Metropolis time and time once more, assembly with investigators and officers, attending arraignments for her son’s then-accused killers, nearly each pre-trial listening to, the three-week-long trial and eventually, Wednesday’s sentencing.
“I really wanted to hate New York and see it as a city that took John away from me, from us,” she mentioned. “And it’s been part of the healing process that has been this beautiful thing.”
Linda Clary poses for a portrait in her dwelling in Highlands, N.C., in 2023. (Will Crooks for NBC Information)
A mom lastly rests
Umberger, a former political advisor, moved to New York a number of weeks earlier than his demise for his job at a nonprofit.
Though he was comparatively new to town, he rapidly developed an inventory of favourite eating places he shared together with his mother, together with Minetta Tavern, the Waverly Inn and Lil’ Frankies.
Clary marked Wednesday’s sentencing at one in all her son’s favourite spots, the French restuarant La Goulue, surrounded by dozens of his family and friends. The restaurant is situated throughout the road from the Higher East Facet townhouse the place Umberger lived — and have been he tragically died.
“John was so excited about taking on New York City. And in some ways, ironically with what happened, even though he is not physically here, he took on New York City and he won. It just cost him his life,” she added.
Clary mentioned that one of the difficult moments all through the final three years was watching surveillance footage proven throughout the trial of her son leaving a Hell Kitchen’s homosexual bar on the evening he died.
The footage confirmed Umberger leaving The Q NYC alone in a automobile after which returning a number of minutes later for unknown causes. He was then seen departing the entrance of the bar with the lads later discovered responsible for his homicide, Hamilton and DeMaio.
“There was something that kept drawing John back to the front of that club. It’s almost like you want to jump out of the seat and scream ‘Stop John! Go back home’ and it didn’t happen,” she mentioned. “Seeing how vulnerable he was and by himself. He seemed quite happy to go off with his new friends.”
Umberger’s pals — a various group of women and men spanning a number of generations — described him as a “connector,” somebody who can mild up a room and befriend any stranger.
At Wednesday’s listening to, Neil Chatterjee, one in all Umberger’s pals, mirrored on Umberger’s pleasant nature.
“You didn’t have to kill him, You didn’t even have to rob him. If you needed money, he would have given it to you. He would have hung out with you,” he mentioned. “Instead you chose to go down the malicious path and now your lives are forever ruined.”
Clary returned dwelling to North Carolina later this week. She mentioned she plans to go to New York periodically and volunteer her time to the LGBTQ neighborhood within the close to future.
However for now, she will probably be spending time along with her three different grownup kids, having fun with her new grandchildren and caring for her 95-year-old father, she mentioned.
After three years touring backwards and forwards to New York, urgent native officers and advocating for her son within the media, Clary additionally plans to relaxation.
“There is no doubt in my mind that I will be together with John again,” Clary mentioned.
“God is taking a bad, evil thing that happened and making good out of it,” she added.
