Quantcast

PS 219 teacher killed in Jax Hgts home

PS 219 teacher killed in Jax Hgts home
By Rebecca Henely

The city medical examiner said Tuesday the death of a 53-year-old man in his Jackson Heights home was a homicide.

David Rangel, of 91st Street and 32nd Avenue, was found to have died from compression in the neck and torso, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said.

No arrests have been made in his death. Police received the 911 call Sunday at 6:45 p.m., the NYPD said.

Rangel was originally born in Monterrey, Mexico, and worked at PS/MS 219 at 144-39 Gravett Road in Flushing teaching Spanish to seventh and eighth graders. The biography on his school website said he lived in Houston for many years, where he taught and received a master’s degree in Spanish literature.

“I am very happy to be part of this wonderful professional community,” Rangel wrote on his PS/MS 219 website. “The students at 219 are also very special to me.”

Rangel’s body was found shortly after Michael Infante, 24, was found dead inside a home on 59th Place near the Brooklyn Queens Expressway close to the Woodside/Maspeth border, the NYPD said. Police discovered his body after a 911 call came in at 10:15 Saturday and pronounced Infante dead at the scene, the authorities said.

The medical examiner did not find any criminality in the case of Infante’s death, police said.

Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.