Police Charge Sex Offender with Attempted Murder for Attack on Woman on Randall’s Island
The woman, Diana Agudelo, worked at the Museum of the City of New York and was attacked while biking across Randall’s Island after work to get home. She was in a medically induced coma and was in critical condition fighting for her life.
Police have arrested a convicted rapist who was living in a men’s shelter charging him with attempted murder for the vicious attack on Diana Agudelo, a museum worker and mother who is fighting for her life after she was beaten and robbed of her e-bike while traveling across Randall’s Island.
“Earlier this week, we had a horrific assault on a woman on Randall’s Island. She received immediate medical attention and is currently in the hospital fighting for her life,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference on May 23. “We had a very aggressive investigation, and we have identified a person that we believe to be responsible for that assault,” she said.
The suspect was identified as 30-year-old Miguel Jiraud, who was living in a 300-bed men’s shelter on Sunken Garden Loop Road on Randalls at the time of the alleged attack. He had only been released in September.
“I did nothing wrong! I found her!” Jiraud yelled at reporters as he was heading to an arraignment at Manhattan criminal court. “I’ve done nothing wrong since I’ve been out. Not a violation, not jumping the turnstiles! Nothing!”
But police said they had video of Jiraud tossing her e-bike into the East River, where it was later recovered.
Agudelo worked as a janitor at the East Harlem-based Museum of the City of New York and typically cut across Randall’s Island on an e-bike en route to her home in Astoria, Queens.
The single mom, who came to the US from her native Colombia, lived with her daughter, Stephanie Rodas, 21, and a son.
Jiraud was out on parole after previously serving 12 years in prison for the rape of a 28-year-old woman in the Bronx.
A GoFundMe page started by Agudelo’s co-workers had raised $42,157 by May 23.
In a post on reddit site r/NYCbike, Agudelo’s devastated daughter revealed that doctors at Elmhurst Hospital told her that her mother had only a 1 percent chance of surviving the brutal attack. She was operated on on May 21 to relieve swelling in her brain and has been in a medically induced coma ever since. Her two kids were keeping a round-the-clock vigil hoping for a miracle.
“Right now, I’m at the hospital with her,” her daughter wrote. “It’s been a really emotional and difficult day. Earlier today, she had to undergo emergency surgery, the doctors had to remove a part of her skull to relieve pressure on her brain. During that surgery, they discovered the damage was extensive.
“One of the doctors told me she has a 99% mortality rate . . . and honestly, I think he only gave me that remaining 1% because he felt bad. Still, I’m holding on to that 1% with everything I’ve got. Please, if you can, keep my mother in your thoughts and prayers.”
She continued: “I want you all to know who she is because she’s more than what happened to her. My mother is the kindest, most forgiving person I’ve ever known. The type of woman who wouldn’t hurt a fly. While I’ve always struggled with anger, she taught me, through her actions, that forgiveness is the greatest gift we can give ourselves.
“She’s deeply religious. She always carried her Bible, wrapped in a little denim cover, with pink and yellow highlighters in the front pocket so she could highlight all the most beautiful verses. She loved her faith, loved going to church, and lived by the words she read.”
Stephanie said her mother worked late nights to raise money so she and her brother could go to college. Her father had returned home to Colombia she said.
“She came to this country to give us a better life,” added Agudelo’s daughter, who was supposed to be taking her college final exams this week. “But instead, this country took hers. All over a stupid bike. I can’t stop thinking. . . . Why not just take the bike and leave her alone? She didn’t deserve this.
“Now, she’s lying in a hospital bed, unable to speak or move. It’s a living hell, for her and for me. She was my light in a world full of darkness. And now, all I see is darkness.”
Police believe Agudelo was attacked sometime after 11:30 on Friday, May 16, but was left unconscious until she was discovered around 5:30am the following morning and taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where she has remained.
Her daughter asked people to “please keep praying. Please keep sharing. I don’t want my mom to be forgotten. She’s only 44. She has so much life left to live. And I still believe, somewhere deep down, that maybe that 1% is real.”