MANHATTAN — A body pulled from the Hudson River this week may be the suspect in the fatal stabbing of a former special education teacher in an East Harlem homeless shelter two months ago, sources said.
While the decomposing body found floating near West 145th Street about 11 a.m. Wednesday hasn't been officially identified, sources said police believe he is Anthony White, 21, who was wanted for the murder of his roommate Deven Black on Jan. 27.
The body he had an identification card bearing that name and wore clothes resembling those worn by White when he murdered Black, 62, inside the shelter at 2027 Lexington Ave., residents said.
NYPD Harbor units brought the body to the pier to the ferry dock at West 125th Street Wednesday morning. It wasn't immediately clear how the body got into the water or how long it had been there.
White, who police said had a history of psychiatric issues, had become enraged when thought someone stole his cellphone from his locker in the homeless shelter, residents said.
"He's been saying, 'I'm gonna kill somebody!' That phone was his lifeline," said Kenneth Ricks, 52. "He'd be on YouTube. He loved rap, old-school and new. He'd be singing, repeating songs word for word."
White and Black were arguing on Jan. 27 when White sliced the other man's neck, police said.
Black, whose once stable life had deteriorated in recent years amid a divorce and accusations of impropriety with a female student, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
White fled the scene and wasn't immediately arrested, police said.
Fellow shelter residents said White was often angry.
He's very aggressive. I'll say, 'Good morning,' and he'll say, 'B---h, what are you looking at?'" said shelter resident Kareema Folks at the time of the murder.
"He'll walk down the block screaming. He put his hands in people's faces," Folks said.
Others were able to access a more vulnerable side of White though, like Ricks who gave him two pairs of Timberlands.
"He had love for me after that," Ricks said. "He let his guard down with me. The kid had serious mental issues. Some days, you couldn't even talk to him. He was in another world. He was sick. He said he was was an orphan and was abused by adults and his family let him down."
