CENTRAL PARK ARTIST, 63, BEATEN TO DEATH — FRIENDS MOURN WOMAN WHO SPENT YEARS PAINTING THE PARK’S BIRDS

NEW YORK — Lee Rogers was known to many Central Park regulars simply as the woman who painted birds.

For years, the 63-year-old artist lived in and around the park, creating intricate watercolor paintings of its wildlife and becoming a familiar presence among birdwatchers and longtime visitors.

On Sunday, Rogers was found dead inside a gazebo in the Ramble area of Central Park.

Authorities said she had suffered severe head trauma. Police later arrested Jonathan Robles, 36, in connection with the death. He was being evaluated at a hospital, and investigators were continuing to investigate the circumstances and possible motive.

A FAMILIAR FACE IN CENTRAL PARK

To people passing through Central Park, Rogers might have appeared to be just another person living outdoors.

To those who knew her, she was much more.

Friends and regular park visitors described Rogers as a distinctive and familiar figure who had spent years surrounded by the birds and wildlife she loved.

She was particularly known within the park’s birding community and had previously been profiled by The New York Times for her artwork.

One of her paintings depicted Pale Male, the famous red-tailed hawk that became one of Central Park’s best-known birds.

“She was like the Grandma Moses of Central Park,” nature guide Robert DeCandido told the New York Post, comparing Rogers with the celebrated American folk artist.

“SHE WASN’T RANDOM”

The news of Rogers’ death devastated people who had known her for years.

Joe Lopez, who said he had been friends with Rogers for about 15 years, described her as a longtime fixture of the park’s birding community.

“She not just a woman. She’s not random. She was a character,” Lopez said, recalling her work around the bird feeders.

Another friend told ABC7 that Rogers had always seemed soft-spoken and that she was a familiar presence to those who regularly visited the park.

“To people she’s a nobody but to us who were regular here, she’s a somebody,” the friend said.

A LIFE BUILT AROUND ART AND NATURE

Rogers’ life had not always been stable.

Friends said she had spent periods living in shelters before eventually making Central Park her primary home. She was known to carry a backpack and walking stick and had created a makeshift shelter in the park.

But her circumstances did not define how many people remembered her.

Her paintings did.

Visitors purchased her artwork, while birdwatchers admired her knowledge of the animals she spent so much time observing.

“She was in charge of the bird feeders for a long time,” Lopez recalled.

POLICE ARREST SUSPECT

According to authorities, police found Rogers dead Sunday.

Investigators later arrested Jonathan Robles, 36, and charged him with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to reports.

Police said Robles was a resident of a Midtown homeless shelter and surrendered to detectives. He was being evaluated at a hospital ahead of an expected arraignment.

Investigators said Rogers and Robles had some type of argument before the violence, although details surrounding the confrontation remained under investigation.

The arrest is an allegation, and the criminal case remains pending.

HER PAINTINGS REMAIN

For the people who knew Rogers, however, the case is about more than the circumstances of her death.

It is about remembering the woman they saw sitting among the trees, watching birds and turning scenes from Central Park into paintings.

She may have been living on the margins of the city, but within the small community of people who knew her, she had a place.

Now those who knew her are left mourning the artist who spent years documenting the park’s wildlife.

And among the trees, feeders and birds she loved, friends say her memory will remain.

Lee Rogers was not a stranger to them. She was part of Central Park.