LEE ROGERS: BELOVED CENTRAL PARK ARTIST KILLED IN GAZEBO AS COMMUNITY MOURNS

A beloved Central Park artist known for painting birds and caring for the park’s bird feeders has been identified as the 63-year-old woman found dead in a gazebo over the weekend.

Lee Rogers, who had spent years living in and around Central Park, was found unconscious and unresponsive on the morning of September 27, 2026, near East Drive and East 74th Street.

Her death has left members of the park’s birding community mourning a woman they say was far more than a stranger living in the park.

WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN CENTRAL PARK

NYPD officers responded to a 911 call shortly before 9:45 a.m. Sunday reporting an unconscious person in the area.

Officers found Rogers suffering from severe trauma. Emergency medical personnel pronounced her dead at the scene.

Initial reports described stab wounds and head trauma. Later reporting indicated investigators believed Rogers had been beaten with a wooden stick.

The exact circumstances and cause of death remain under investigation.

SUSPECT ARRESTED

Police arrested Jonathan Robles, 36, later that Sunday.

Robles was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police.

Authorities said he was associated with a Midtown homeless shelter and surrendered to detectives before being taken for medical evaluation.

Investigators are still working to establish what happened inside the park and what may have led to the violence.

According to law-enforcement sources cited by the New York Post, Rogers and Robles may have been involved in an argument before the confrontation escalated. The precise circumstances and motive have not been publicly established.

SHE WAS KNOWN AS AN ARTIST

For people who regularly visited Central Park, Rogers was a familiar face.

She was particularly well known among birdwatchers for her detailed paintings of the park’s wildlife.

One of her subjects was Pale Male, the famous red-tailed hawk that became an iconic part of New York City’s birding community.

Friends and fellow birders said Rogers also helped maintain bird feeders and sold her artwork to visitors.

Robert DeCandido, a Central Park nature guide known as “Birding Bob,” compared her artistic presence to folk artist Grandma Moses and said birdwatchers appreciated both her work and her contribution to the park’s birding culture.

“TO US, SHE WAS SOMEBODY”

Those who knew Rogers have struggled to reconcile the woman they knew with the circumstances of her death.

Friends told ABC7 that she had been a familiar presence in the Ramble for years.

One friend said that while some people might have viewed her simply as another homeless person in the park, regular visitors knew her differently.

“To us, she was somebody,” the friend said.

Another longtime acquaintance, Joe Lopez, said Rogers had been part of the park’s birding community for many years.

He described her as an artist and recalled that she had been responsible for bird feeders for a long period of time.

Lopez had purchased several of her paintings, including one depicting Pale Male.

A LIFE BUILT AROUND CENTRAL PARK

Rogers had reportedly lived in the park for periods of time, sometimes staying in shelters.

Friends said she had created a small living space in the Ramble, carrying a backpack and walking stick and keeping her belongings near a bench.

She was often seen wearing hiking clothing as she moved through the park.

For those who encountered her regularly, her presence had become part of the landscape of Central Park.

“She was very regal,” one parkgoer recalled, comparing her appearance to that of a professor.

Her connection with nature was also a defining part of how friends remembered her.

QUESTIONS SURROUND THE ATTACK

Despite the arrest, important questions remain unanswered.

Investigators have not publicly established a motive for the killing.

Authorities are also continuing to investigate the exact sequence of events leading to Rogers’ death.

The New York Post reported that a confrontation between Rogers and Robles may have preceded the violence, but details of that encounter remain unclear.

The medical examiner’s findings will also help determine the precise cause and manner of death.

Robles has been charged, but the allegations against him have not been proven in court.

A COMMUNITY MOURNS

The killing has deeply affected people who spent time in Central Park’s birding community.

For them, Rogers was not simply the unidentified woman initially reported in the news.

She was the artist who painted the birds.

She was the woman who knew the park’s wildlife.

She was someone regular visitors recognized and remembered.

And now, the wooden gazebo where she was found has become the scene of a tragedy that has shocked the community.

As investigators continue working to establish what happened, friends and fellow birdwatchers are left remembering Lee Rogers for the paintings, birds and years she spent making Central Park part of her life.

Her story, they say, was much bigger than the circumstances of her death.