A man cops and prosecutors say preys on homeless women and sex workers has been arrested for beating and strangling a 54-year-old homeless woman before leaving her dead body under an East Harlem overpass, police said Friday.
Audoine Amazan, 38, was remanded to custody on second-degree murder charges for killing Shivonne Thompson on July 1, officials said. Thompson, 54, was found dead under an overpass to the Harlem River Drive at E. 135th St. and Park Ave., police said
Amazan’s alleged attack on Thompson may not have been an isolated incident, Manhattan District Attorney Danielle Turcotte said at his arraignment.
The murder suspect moved to the U.S. from Haiti about a year ago. In November 2024, a homeless woman showed up at Harlem Hospital claiming that she was beaten and sexually assaulted.
While she could not communicate the details, detectives tested her clothing for DNA, which has now been linked to Amazan, Turcotte said.
His DNA was also linked to a case in which a homeless woman was forcibly raped on the roof of a NYCHA building near Amazan’s shelter, prosecutors said.
“He targets people whose life circumstances make it difficult for them to report his abuse,” Turcotte said.
Criminal charges on these two cases were pending.
Thompson suffered trauma to her head, face, neck, torso, and limbs, officials said. During an autopsy, the city Medical Examiner learned that several bones in Thompson’s neck had been broken and that she died from compression of the neck, officials said.
Investigators found DNA on Thompson’s body that they were able to link to Amazan, an indication he likely had sex with Thompson some time before her death.
Cops arrested Amazan on Wednesday after finding him in Harlem — more than a month after Thompson’s body was found, cops said.
Amazan, who resides at a Brooklyn homeless shelter, had been arrested for patronizing a prostitute and public lewdness on Aug. 12 near where the homeless woman’s body had been found weeks earlier, court records show. He was released without bail and had been expected to return to court on the charges on Sept. 19.
The New York County Defender Services, which represented Amazan at his arraignment, declined to comment when reached about Amazan’s charges.
