In 1990, an incredible 2,245 murders were committed in New York City.
One was the murder of John Reisenbach, 33, who lived with his wife in a one-bedroom apartment at Jane and Hudson Streets.
His case garnered lots of coverage because he was a West Village ad exec. But also, his slaying seemed so freakishly random—even in a summer packed with random killings.
The facts: Around 10 p.m. on July 30, with his home phone not working, Reisenbach left his place at 61 Jane Street (below) to use a payphone around the corner.
He was in the middle of talking to a colleague about a business idea, according to an article in The Villager that ran a few years ago:
“‘Give me the money! Give me the money!’ [the colleague] recalled hearing. ‘It sounded like a mugging, then I heard nothing.'”
Three shots were fired, then “Reisenbach staggered around the corner before collapsing on the sidewalk in front of 803 Greenwich Avenue,” explains the Villager.
A few days later, police arrested a homeless man who hung out at Abingdon Square Park. Media reports focused on the homeless drug addicts who back then made the park their home base, as well as the trannie prostitutes spilling over from the Meatpacking District.
But after six months, they let him go. That’s when the case went cold, where it’s stayed for 21 years.
Ephemeral New York 