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Fiancee says would-be husband fatally beaten with bat in Throgs Neck over rent dispute

It happened on Saturday at a home on Throgs Neck Expressway near Layton Avenue.

Tim Harfmann

Dec 1, 2024, 11:02 PM

Updated 2 days ago

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A Bronx man is dead after police sources said he was beaten to death with a baseball bat over rent money.
It happened on Saturday at a home on Throgs Neck Expressway near Layton Avenue.
The NYPD said 30-year-old Kristopher Samaroo was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The victim’s fiancee, Brittney Shears, spoke exclusively with News 12 and said Samaroo got into a fight with their landlord's brother.
"[The landlord’s brother] goes straight to the trunk of his car, grabs a steel bat, runs up my steps to the front of my house, and starts wailing on my husband,” said Shears. “From there, my husband jumps on him. They fall down here onto the ground."
Shears said that’s when the landlord jumped in to attack Samaroo.
"They keep saying that we're not paying rent at the moment, but that's further from the truth,” said Shears. “[The landlord] accepts partial payment for rent because they keep cutting off my hot water."
Shears claimed her family hasn't had hot water in three months.
The property has had at least 67 complaints and 17 violations in the past two years – with several related to hot water, according to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Shears said they moved into the apartment in 2022.
"That man was my soulmate, and we were supposed to get married,” said Shears. “He's brought me out of depression."
Now, she's a mother raising two little girls, ages 2 and 6 months, on her own.
"It was really senseless,” said Shears. “My girls don't deserve not to have a father."
As of Sunday evening, police said no arrests had been made and the investigation is ongoing.