Central Park's wooded Ramble section lost one of its most recognizable figures on Sunday, when 63-year-old artist and longtime resident Francis Lee Rogers was found slain in the rustic gazebo where she slept. Police say the woman also known as Elise Bainbridge Hill had been beaten and repeatedly stabbed, and that her hair, typically worn in long, tight braids, had been shaved off, per the New York Times. A short time later, 36-year-old Jonathan Robles arrived at the Central Park police precinct, told officers a woman in the park had threatened him, and later confessed to killing Rogers, according to law enforcement officials.
Robles has been charged with murder and weapon possession. Rogers, who'd lived largely in and around the park for decades while homeless, was well known to bird-watchers and other regulars. She maintained an informal network of feeders at her own expense and sold meticulous bird portraits—some for hundreds of dollars—to a small but loyal circle of collectors. Friends say she treated the Boathouse cafe as her studio, lingering over coffee while she worked.
Patch and the New York Daily News note that Rogers had been the subject of a 2007 documentary called Begging Naked, which explained how she'd fled an abusive father when she was an adolescent and contended with addiction, housing insecurity, and prostitution, during her life. "She's probably one of the most intelligent people I've ever met in my life," said filmmaker Karen Gehres, per the Daily News. "She's hilarious, a great sense of humor, the most amazing artist."
Gehres also called Rogers a "very, very, very fiercely independent person" who was eventually beset by mental health issues, including paranoia and a belief she was being tracked. On Monday, mourners returned to the gazebo with candles, artwork, and stories, remembering her less as a homeless woman than as a singular presence in the park's tight-knit birding community, per the Times. Police data shows that killings in Central Park remain rare.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
