Manhunt underway after 91-year-old retired construction worker is found bound and beaten to death in his garage - just months after being robbed outside his home
A 91-year-old man was found bound and beaten to death at his Bronx home on Tuesday, just months after he was robbed in front of his residence, according to police.
Nicolo Rappa was discovered at about 12:30pm tied up and beaten in a garage behind his home at 2400 Wickham Avenue near Waring Avenue in the Pelham Gardens neighborhood, sources told the New York Daily News.
The retired construction worker lived there with his 96-year-old wife, who he helped care for in their old age, according to neighbors.
The NYPD responded to a noon 911 call for a robbery at the home. They eventually located Rappa, with his hands bound together and a towel over his head. No arrests have been made.
Rappa's neighbor, 64-year-old Robert D’Alessandro, told the news outlet: 'Whoever did this has no conscience. They deserve a slow, painful death.'
The body of a 91-year-old man was found bound and tied up at his Bronx home on Tuesday, just weeks after he was robbed in front of his residence
The retired construction worker had lived at the residence with his 96-year-old wife, who he helped care for in their old age, according to neighbors
His tenant found him in the garage, which was open, the neighbor added. 'He started calling ‘Nick! Nick!’ And he saw him in the rear, tied up and dead.'
Police sources told the Daily News that a relative living in a downstairs apartment actually stumbled upon Rappa's suspected killer and confronted the man, who fled in a nearby white Ford pick-up.
Neighbors of Rappa's described the elderly man's killer as a black and wearing an orange and white construction vest, the Daily News reports.
The elderly man had been the target of a robbery just months prior, D’Alessandro said. 'I wonder if this has anything to do with it.'
Another neighborhood resident, Paul Dock, 46, told NBC News that Rappa was a construction worker in the city for years, but now was dedicated to assisting his disabled wife.
'He built Co-op City. He used to tell us stories about working there. He took care of his wife,' said Paul Dock, 46, also a construction worker.
'She could only go from her bed to the kitchen table. He was a good man.'
Rappa's neighbor Robert D’Alessandro said the elderly man had been the target of a robbery just months prior to the murder, 'I wonder if this has anything to do with it' he said
Investigators swarmed the residence following the discovery of Rappa's bound and beaten body, with a crime scene unit combing through the property as of Tuesday afternoon
NYPD were alerted to the crime after a 911 call to the home for a robbery around noon on Tuesday
Investigators swarmed the residence following the discovery of Rappa's bound and beaten body. A crime scene unit combed through the property, which was surrounded in yellow caution tape, as of Tuesday afternoon.
No arrests have been made as of Wednesday.