On a tragic evening in Queens, New York, a 44-year-old man named Ramon Nazario Jr. lost his life in a brutal act of violence that shook the city. On May 24, 2000, Nazario was working at a Wendy's restaurant in Flushing when a former employee and an accomplice executed a robbery that turned into a massacre. Nazario, a hardworking family man who had moved from Puerto Rico two years prior, was a husband and a father to a 23-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son.
He had taken the job at Wendy's temporarily, hoping to find better-paying work to support his family.
The perpetrators, John Taylor, a disgruntled former employee of the restaurant, and his accomplice Craig Godineaux, entered the Wendy's around closing time. They forced Nazario and six of his co-workers into a walk-in refrigerator. There, the employees were bound with duct tape, and plastic bags were placed over their heads before they were shot. Five of the seven employees, including Nazario, succumbed to their injuries. Two others were critically wounded but survived. The assailants fled the scene with approximately $2,400.
The investigation that followed was swift. Less than 48 hours after the horrific event, police arrested Taylor and Godineaux. Evidence against the pair included a palm print belonging to Taylor found at the scene, eyewitness testimony, and statements from the two survivors. Both men eventually implicated themselves and each other in the crime. They were charged with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, and robbery.
The legal proceedings brought some measure of justice for the victims and their families. Craig Godineaux pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. John Taylor was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and was initially sentenced to death. However, his sentence was later changed to life in prison without parole after New York's highest court ruled the state's death penalty statute unconstitutional. Both men remain incarcerated, serving life sentences for their roles in the senseless tragedy that cut short the life of Ramon Nazario Jr. and his four colleagues.
