Jonathan Robles
Introduction
Jonathan Robles, 36, the man charged with murdering Lee Rogers β the 63-year-old artist who painted Central Park’s birds and slept in the park for years β was found unfit to stand trial on November 10, 2026 after failing a court-ordered mental health examination . Robles allegedly admitted the killing to police in detail β “She hit me on my body with a stick, so I took the stick from her. I hit her with it more than 20 times,” he told officers per the criminal complaint β and was in custody by the night of the September 27, 2026 discovery of Rogers’s body in a Central Park gazebo . He is charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon; the fitness ruling pauses β but does not end β his prosecution, with a judge ordering all parties back to court on December 2 .
Background Information
Rogers β who referred to herself as Francis Lee Rogers and was also known as Elise Bainbridge Hill β was a fixture of Central Park’s birding community, selling intricate wildlife watercolors she painted near the boathouse during years spent homeless in and around the park; friends compared her to “the Grandma Moses of Central Park,” and the New York Times once profiled her alongside Audubon . Robles was homeless in the park as well, where the two were “regulars” who knew each other well but did not get along, according to Moje Ramirez, 51, a homeless man who knew both and told the Post that Robles “couldn’t control his actions” when under the influence . Robles was in custody by roughly 9 p.m. the night of the discovery, having turned himself in and been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, per CBS New York; the Post reported he turned himself in to authorities late Sunday .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged with murder; ruled unfit for trial. Robles is charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the September 27, 2026 killing of Lee Rogers in Central Park, and he allegedly admitted the beating to police in detail. On November 10, 2026, his attorney told the court he failed his court-ordered 730 mental-health exam; a Manhattan judge found him unfit to be arraigned and remanded him, with prosecutors requesting three weeks to review the findings. The charges are accusations, he has not been convicted, and the fitness ruling is not an acquittal β the case returns to court December 2.
Rogers’s body was found in a gazebo near the park’s boathouse at 74th Street and East Drive on Sunday morning, September 27, 2026 β discovered at 9:40 a.m. with multiple slashes and head trauma and pronounced dead at 10:03 a.m., according to police and sources; a stick lay broken in pieces and dripping with blood at the scene, prosecutors later said, and the city medical examiner determined she died of blunt-force trauma to her head . According to the criminal complaint, Robles told police: “She hit me on my body with a stick, so I took the stick from her. I hit her with it more than 20 times. I did it until she couldn’t hit me anymore” . Sources told the Post the two had gotten into some type of argument that escalated into violence, although the details were unclear .
Robles was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon by Sunday evening, police said, and was initially arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court in October, where a judge ordered the 730 examination of his fitness to stand trial . His attorney had previously told the Post that his client has a “serious mental issue” . When Robles was set to be arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on November 10 β his first in-person court appearance since his arrest β attorney Mitchell Schuman objected: “I’m objecting to my client from being arraigned β he’s not fit,” Schuman told Justice Althea Drysdale . The exam results had been returned only the day before; prosecutors asked for a three-week adjournment to “digest” the findings and decide how to proceed, and the judge remanded Robles and ordered all parties back to court on December 2 .
Public Reaction and Consequences
Rogers’s killing stunned the park’s regulars: birders and homeless park-dwellers quickly suspected the gazebo victim was “Lee,” and friends gathered at the bench where she often slept β nature-walk guide Robert DeCandido, “Birding Bob,” called her like family to the birding crowd, and painter-collector Joe Lopez paid his respects clutching one of her paintings of the red-tailed hawk “Pale Male” . NY1 noted major crime in Central Park was up nearly 30 percent that year β 83 major felonies compared with 64 at the same point the year before β as some parkgoers questioned their safety in the green space . Robles, appearing November 10 in a tan jail jumpsuit, sat quiet through the brief proceeding that found him unfit .
Current Status
As of November 10, 2026, Robles remains charged with second-degree murder β which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted β and criminal possession of a weapon, and he remains remanded in custody . He has not been convicted of anything: the November 10 fitness finding means he cannot be arraigned while it stands, prosecutors are reviewing the 730 exam results to determine how they will proceed, and the case returns to court on December 2 . What the exam found has not been made public, and no disposition β trial, a fitness-restoration process, or any other resolution β has been reached .
Impact on Their Career/Life
The ruling leaves Rogers’s killing in procedural limbo rather than resolved: her friends’ efforts to memorialize her β candles in the gazebo, her paintings carried to the bench where she slept β stand against a case now governed by competency findings rather than the trial calendar, with the December 2 hearing deciding whether the criminal case advances at all . For Robles, the fitness finding keeps the life-maximum murder charge unresolved while he remains in custody, with his own words to police β an admission of striking Rogers more than 20 times β sitting at the center of the record prosecutors must weigh against his court-found unfitness to stand trial .
Sources
- NY Post, “NYC wacko who allegedly bashed Central Park artist to death found not fit for trial,” November 10, 2026 β source
- NY Post, “Woman beaten to death in Central Park ID’d as beloved homeless artist famed for painting birds,” September 28, 2026 β source
- NY Post, “Woman with stab wounds found dead inside Central Park gazebo,” September 27, 2026 β source
- CBS New York, “Man accused of killing artist living in NYC’s Central Park to be arraigned,” October 2026 β source
- NY1, “Man charged with murdering woman in Central Park: NYPD,” September 29, 2026 β source
- @nypost on X, “NYC wacko who allegedly bashed Central Park artist to death found not fit for trial,” November 10, 2026 β source