MANHATTAN — The death of a New Jersey man who spent the night with two prostitutes and was found dead in a Midtown Hilton hotel Monday, has been ruled a homicide, police said.
Roderick Goodwin, 28, used a fake name and cash to check into the Hilton Garden Inn at 63 W. 35th St., near Sixth Avenue, along with three men and two women who are believed to be prostitutes, sources said.
About 4 a.m., people on the same floor heard a commotion coming from inside his room, 2203, and summoned security guards who found him lying under the bed with wounds to the back of his head, sources said.
A safe appears to have been taken from the room, according to NYPD's Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. It wasn't immediately clear what the safe contained.
Goodwin, who was from Bridgeton, N.J., was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital, police said.
The city's medical examiner's office ruled his death a homicide, police said.
No one was immediately arrested in connection with Goodwin's death, police said.
A group of men was seen fleeing the hotel about the same time as security found his body, sources said.
Investigators have yet to find the weapon used to kill Goodwin, an NYPD spokesman said.
