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Home health aide charged with murder of Staten Island man, 80, found with ‘I touch little girls’ scrawled on chest
By BRITTANY KRIEGSTEIN and JOHN ANNESE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
NOV 30, 2021 AT 9:07 AM
A live-in home health aide has been charged with the murder of a Staten Island man under her care — a bizarre homicide in which “I touch little girls” was scrawled across the bare chest of the fatally beaten octogenarian.
Police on Monday arrested Rene Ayarde, 28, charging her with the July 19 slaying of Robert Raynor, 80, who was found dead in the first-floor hallway of his Corson Ave. home in Tompkinsville.
Renee Ayarde
Raynor’s daughter, Carolyn Whetstone, insisted her father was no pedophile and angrily accused Ayarde of killing him in an interview with the Daily News in July.
“That mess she wrote on his chest is not true. She wrote that on him to justify what she did, which you cannot justify — taking anyone’s life,” Whetstone said.
“My dad is not that kind of person. He had cancer and arthritis, so he didn’t even have the physical ability to do that,” she added.
Robert Raynor is pictured, on right. (Obtained by Daily News)
Prosecutors accused Ayarde of dropping her daughter onto the concrete and dragging her along Hester St. near Eldridge St. on the Lower East Side and throwing a full water bottle at the child’s face. A passerby called 911, and Ayarde grabbed the cellphone out of the woman’s hands, knocking her to the ground and leaving her scratched and bruised, prosecutors charge.
Ayarde’s little girl was taken to a hospital with bruising to her neck, when investigators found old injuries in various states of healing still visible on the girl’s knees, face, and cheek, according to the criminal complaint.
The status of the assault case was not immediately available Monday night.
Investigators believe Raynor’s body was dragged into the hallway from his rear first-floor apartment, sources said.
A neighbor who discovered the body confirmed the message written in black marker, adding the phrase “I take dolls in my room for girls ages 1-5″ was also written across his stomach. Sources with knowledge of the investigation said Raynor also had the words “I touch” written on one foot.
Ayarde, who lives in Jersey City, was extradited to New York Monday after her arrest in New Jersey. Charged with murder, manslaughter and assault, Ayarde was indicted in Staten Island Supreme Court and ordered held without bail.
