Central Park Conservancy
A man was found dead on Monday morning at Heckscher Playground in Central Park.
Police say they received a phone call at about 8:37 a.m. and headed to the playground near 62nd Street and Center Drive, where they observed the man, who’s now been identified as 37-year-old Ian Stapp, with multiple lacerations to the body. EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.
Investigators believe his wounds were self-inflicted and that Stapp’s death was the result of a suicide. Investigators also found a knife in his possession. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the official cause of death and an investigation remains ongoing.
“We were aiming to come to the playground, have a little walk around the park on our last day, and we get here and find this crime scene,” an English tourist told the New York Post. The outlet added that Stapp did not appear to be homeless; NYPD officials provided an address of record in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
ABC 7 NY says the man is believed to have died in the middle of the night in or near the playground’s bathroom.
Public records indicate that Stapp, whose full name is Ian Michael Stapp, had previous addresses in Tucson, AZ and Lincoln, NE. One of his previous addresses in Brooklyn is also linked to a business called Stapp Music Company LLC.
