On a September night in 1977, Police Officer Vito A. Chiaramonte, a 32-year-old male, was on foot patrol in the Baruch Houses housing project near FDR Drive and Delancey Street in New York City. An officer with 12 years of service with the New York City Housing Authority Police Department, he was a father to four children. While making his rounds, he was suddenly and fatally shot once in the head with a.
32 caliber handgun.
A civilian discovered the wounded officer and he was rushed to Bellevue Hospital. Despite the immediate medical attention, Officer Chiaramonte succumbed to his wound and died on September 26, 1977. His death was a profound loss to his family and the police department he had served for over a decade. The attack was sudden and left behind a scarcity of immediate leads for investigators to follow.
The investigation into the murder of Officer Chiaramonte has been a long and frustrating one for the New York City Police Department. In the immediate aftermath and the years that followed, no suspect was ever officially identified in connection with the shooting. The case has remained open, a cold case that has yet to see a resolution or provide any sense of closure to his surviving family. A glimmer of hope emerged in 2003 when an American convict held in a German prison claimed to possess information about the unsolved murder. However, this lead ultimately went nowhere as the inmate later refused to cooperate and provide any details, leaving the investigation at a standstill once more. To this day, the murder of Police Officer Vito Chiaramonte remains unsolved, with no arrests made and no suspects publicly named.
