Two Men Arrested in Brutal New York Killing of Gay Teenager

Police in Brooklyn have arrested two men in the gruesome February murder of a 19-year-old gay man whose gunshot body was left burning on railroad tracks, and the mother of the victim had harsh words for her son’s alleged killer.

Isiah Baez, 19, was arrested on Thursday and charged with the murder of Deandre Matthews, who was last seen on February 6 and whose lifeless body was found the following day on railroad tracks in a remote section of Flatbush. Matthews had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and his body had been set on fire. Police had earlier arrested Remy McPrecia, 24, and charged him with concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence.

“He deserves any- and everything that he gets,” Deandre’s mother Danielle Matthews told News 12 the Bronx following news of the arrests. “He deserves every day to rot in that jail.”

Deandre, who was out and remembered by friends as warm and trusting, studied criminal justice at SUNY Broome Community College. According to family and police, he left work at the Buggy Service Center in Crowne Heights on Monday, February 6, around 5 p.m. where he had recently started working to help pay for classes. He stopped by his mother’s residence to borrow her Jeep and was never heard from again. Danielle was able to track the location of the burned-out Jeep the following morning after he did not respond to her messages. Police located Matthews’s body a short time later.

Police believe Baez murdered Matthews and then enlisted the support of McPrecia in disposing of the body. Baez and Matthews had reportedly been communicating for over a year and pictures of the two men were found on Deandre’s phone. Police have yet to provide a motive for the crime, but Daniella has her suspicions.

“I really think that he was hiding his true identity,” she told the NY Daily News in reference to Baez.

Baez’s mother, who was not identified, told the Daily News she was “lost for words” and confused after learning of her son’s arrest, noting he has family who is gay.

While Daniella is still seeking answers for her son’s murder, she has little confusion about the fate she seeks for Baez.

“Tell Isiah to go to hell,” she told the Daily News.