Man Who Died After Jumping Out Of UWS Restaurant Freezer Was Alleged Murderer Out On Bail

Exterior of UWS location

The disturbed individual who jumped out of an Upper West Side restaurant's freezer and then died on Sunday has been identified by police as Carlton Henderson, a 54-year-old Arizona resident who was accused of a decades-old double murder and was released on bail less than a week ago.

According to the NYPD, he burst out of the walk-in freezer at Sarabeth's restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue on around 11 a.m., screaming "Away from me, Satan!" as he lunged at the restaurant staff with a knife. Authorities say that Henderson fell unconscious as employees attempted to disarm him of the knife, and died soon after being transported to St. Luke's Hospital.

Henderson was charged last year with two counts of first-degree murder for his role in two homicides committed in Boston 30 years ago. He was arrested for the pair of cold cases in St. Louis.

Henderson was accused of killing 26-year-old William Medina and 22-year-old Antonio Dos Reis in 1988, and was arrested based on a confession he made to federal prosecutors in 1993, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office in Boston. He was initially held without bail, but recently filed a motion to suppress evidence of the decades-old statements, claiming they were part of an immunity deal. The judge granted that motion, allowing for Henderson to be released last Wednesday ahead of an August 14th court date.

A spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office noted that the D.A. had requested the judge to deny the motion to suppress the statement.

It's unclear what Henderson was doing in New York, or how he managed to get into the restaurant's freezer. The Post reports that he had been staying at the NYLO Hotel just a few blocks from Sarabeth's. The Medical Examiner's office is investigating his cause of death. Attempts to reach Henderson's attorney were not successful.