‘Kind heart’ doomed vic at HIV home
HIS KINDNESS might have gotten him killed.
A 54-year-old man found beaten and stabbed in his Kips Bay assisted living home Saturday tried to help his former roommate “walk a straight line” and live a better life, his distraught family members said Sunday.
Police found Moses Ybarra dead in his bed in the room he rented on the seventh floor of Friend’s House in Rose Hill on E. 29th St. He had stab wounds to his body and bruises on his face, sources said. Police believe he was attacked before he went to bed and died during the night.
Cops have identified Ashraf Ahmed (photo) — Ybarra’s former roommate, police sources said — as a suspect in the killing, and are asking the public’s help finding him.
“My brother was a very kindhearted person, very giving and helpful,” Ybarra’s sister, Leticia Muniz, told the Daily News. “He would help anyone who needed help. He was always helping people.”
That kindness extended to Ahmed, a homeless man Ybarra took pity on, Ybarra’s family said.
He gave Ahmed advice and money, even though his friends in his hometown in Texas warned him to steer clear.
Ybarra left Mission, Texas, for New York in 1984, a year after graduating high school, and worked in cafes and restaurants, his family said. He was taking classes to learn how to use spreadsheet programs like Excel.
His sisters didn’t know why Ybarra was living in Friend’s House — a facility for people who are living with HIV and AIDS.
“He was a very nice man, a very loving person. He was always taking care of people, taking care of my father when he was bedridden,” said his sister, Juanita Salazar.
Police described Ahmed as 5-feet-5, about 170 pounds and partially bald. He has brown eyes, and was last seen wearing a button-down shirt and dark pants.
Cops are asking anyone with information on Ahmed to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.