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These New Yorkers had homes. They died outside in the freezing cold.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
,
Karen Yi
and
David Brand
Published Feb 11, 2026
Modified Feb 12, 2026
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Courtesy of Maria Luna
By
Brittany Kriegstein
,
Karen Yi
and
David Brand
Published Feb 11, 2026
Modified Feb 12, 2026
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Kenneth Luna’s family said he died doing something he enjoyed: walking through the park near his Bronx home to clear his mind.
On Jan. 28, the 29-year-old left the apartment he shared with his mother on Brook Avenue in Mott Haven and walked three blocks to St. Mary’s Park, according to his younger sister Maria Luna. Temperatures in New York City felt like 10 degrees that night, and Maria Luna said she suspected that her brother had been drinking.
Had it not been dangerously cold outside, she said, Kenneth Luna might have made it home alive.
But he had lain somewhere in the park and did not get up. First responders found him the next morning after a passerby called 911, Maria Luna said, and he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
“He wasn’t homeless,” she told Gothamist on Wednesday. “Maybe there was no one around to help him.”
City Hall officials released Luna’s name on Tuesday as part of a list of 18 deaths in public places during the recent period of frigid weather that first gripped the city on Jan. 19. He is one of the youngest people on the list so far, which includes previously unreported names of several others who were also discovered dead across the city.
Luna is also one of about two dozen people who likely died of hypothermia — either outdoors, at transit locations or in private homes — during the cold stretch, according to City Hall. The overall death toll, which has ballooned over the past two weeks as authorities confirmed more cases, now also includes seven fatalities in residential settings.
The Mamdani administration is still investigating some of the deaths and their official causes, including Luna’s. But the city’s chief medical examiner testified at a City Council hearing Tuesday that 15 of the 18 fatalities in public spaces are believed to be directly related to hypothermia, and the head of the social services department said some of the people had previous interactions with the city’s shelter system.
As those reviews continue, Gothamist has found at least five of those who died outside had housing — underscoring that even people in stable living situations can be vulnerable to extreme weather, which is becoming more common due to climate change.
Philip Piuma, 47, who officials said was found outside a Key Food in Flushing on Jan. 27, was not homeless either, according to the Rev. Larry Byrne, rector at All Saints Episcopal Church in Bayside. He said Piuma was a longtime member of the church who lived in the area and worked as an alarm dispatch officer.
“Philip was a gentle soul, he was a great guy, he always wanted to help people, he had a great sense of humor,” Byrne said. "Phil was a bit like Will Rogers in that he'd never met a person he didn't like."
The grocery store’s manager spotted Piuma sitting on a bench outside the store the night before he was found dead, the New York Daily News reported.
“It was pretty shocking the way he died,” Byrne said.
Piuma’s stepfather, John Sandrowsky, said Piuma never returned after stepping out of his Bayside home in the afternoon to fetch medication for his uncles, with whom he lived.
Sandrowsky said his stepson appears to have slipped, fallen and broken his nose while he was out. The stepfather added that video footage police showed him showed passersby offering Piuma tissues, but no one called for help.
“He would've been saved if somebody would have made a phone call. I’m just in disbelief,” said Sandrowsky, who has known Piuma since he was 2 years old.
Piuma died five blocks from his home and across the street from a fire station, Sandrowsky noted.
“He was a good kid, he took care of people, he did like cars. His friends had a couple show cars,” he said.
Maria Luna said she only discovered her brother was missing when she went to visit their mother that Friday. She said she checked with the Bronx restaurant where he worked as a server, and they also had not seen him.
When medical examiners called later that afternoon to tell her Kenneth Luna had died, Maria Luna said, they explained he had arrived at the hospital as an unidentified patient, because he lacked a cellphone and identification.
“I was shocked,” she said. “He always came home, no matter what.”
In the days since her brother’s death, Maria Luna said her family has been grappling with what could have saved him. She said she wished more police had been assigned to patrol St. Mary’s Park, which is right across the street from the NYPD’s 40th Precinct and can be desolate at night.
“I know my brother was not the only victim, there were other people found in parks,” she said, referring to Nolberto Jimbo Niola, 52, who had been discovered dead several days earlier on a bench in Corona. “This winter hit us hard and no one was really expecting it.”
Daniel Alfonso Reyes Soria, 27
Courtesy of Luisa Fernanda Reyes Soria
Luisa Fernanda Reyes Soria said she was still looking for answers about why her brother, 27-year-old Daniel Alfonso Reyes Soria, was found naked at a construction site along Jerome Avenue in Norwood, without any of his belongings, on Jan. 26.
City medical examiners said he died of hypothermia, with acute methamphetamine intoxication as a contributing factor.
“He was everything to me. It was us two against the world,” Luisa Fernanda, 29, said Wednesday in Spanish.
Her family has set up a GoFundMe campaign to repatriate Daniel’s body to Bogota, Colombia. She said her children would call him “Tio Tricolor,” or “Tricolor Uncle,” because he loved colors and loved taking photographs.
“He was a happy kid, he never had any enemies, he was cheerful, he loved doing his TikToks,” Luisa Fernanda said.
Daniel was LGBTQ+ and worked for a cleaning company that provided services to large companies like Louis Vuitton, his sister told Gothamist. She said he arrived in New York City four years ago and had a pending asylum case.
Reyes Soria lived alone in a studio in Belmont, according to neighbors who spoke with Gothamist inside his six-story walk-up building on Wednesday.
Albina Cecunjanin, a tenant on the third floor, said she often saw him in the hallway on his way out.
“He used to go up and down the stairs wearing a bookbag,” she said. “He was polite.”
Cecunjanin said she was stunned to learn Reyes Soria was found dead outdoors.
“It’s not like he was homeless. He had a home,” she said. “So what happened to him?”
This story has been updated with additional information.
Tagged
Health and Science
Winter Storm January 2026
bronx
corona
flushing
mott haven
new york city
public safety
queens
weather
Brittany Kriegstein
Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].
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Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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