Man Murders Date, Leaves Body in Bed for Days

A 29-year-old Chinatown resident was charged with murdering his new girlfriend in the apartment he shares with his grandmother. Michael Chin Lenahan allegedly called his brother in NJ to say "I screwed up." His mother later went to the apartment and found a woman's body on her son's bed, under clothes.

Police say Lenahan and Lorna Santiago had a date on Saturday night. They started at a restaurant on Third Avenue and then went to a strip club, Rick's Cabaret, where he bought her $50 in lap dances. They returned to Lenahan's apartment at 20 Confucius Plaza. From the Post:

On Sunday, however, the couple, who had been dating for just a week, got into an argument.

Lenahan demanded the $50 back. The woman refused and kicked him in the groin.

Lenahan then lost it, grabbed her by the throat and choked her, investigators said.

He left her body lying on his bed and scrawled the apology, which was accompanied by a bizarre drawing, investigators said.

On Sunday and Monday nights, he slept beside the decaying body, they said.

Lenahan called his brother to say he made a mistake and that he would kill himself. The Daily News reports the brother went to the apartment to escort their elderly grandmother - who was in the home during the murder - out before the body was discovered. Lenahan fled but was convinced to surrender at a McDonald's near the South Street Seaport. A neighbor expressed her shock to WABC 7, "It's very unnerving, shocking frankly...It's a very quiet building, you never hear of anything like that. Very unsettling, actually."

Lenahan is described as an unemployed artist who has a record for grand larceny and had been depressed lately; he also suffers from spina bifida. He was charged with second-degree murder.

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By Jen Chung in News on October 11, 2007 9:44 AM

Comments [rss]

guest

Please. We need to let our dead rest in peace. I was a very close friend of hers as well, from school in Puerto Rico. Its been three years since I hadnt heard from her and this is the first news i get from her.

Just wish her to rest in peace..Nobody would like to be thought of or seen as just a body..because Lorna was such a wonderful person...

Yes, it is true she made a bad decision to meet with this person but please you guys need to have a heart. The pain of losing a loved one is something im sure those of you with insolent messages dont know..and I wish you never have to go through this in your lives.

guest

Wow, only in New York. Very sad, yet very intriguing. And shut up, troll.

guest

This dude is probably a necrophiliac - he just finds a hot looking corpse too good to pass up...

guest

Is she hot looking...?

guest

I am one of this woman's best friends.

Lorna would never kick (NOT EVEN SLAP) a guy without a physical provocation. She was just not a physically violent person. Which means that she probably kicked him while he was being violent with her. That is if this kick in the groin really happened for they do not have their facts straight.

For starters she IS NOT ASIAN (though she certainly did have very easily confused features like her sleek black hair and skintone which is not uncommon for Latinamerican countries). And she was 24, soon to be 25 (just next week)

Lorna B. Santiago Bonilla, Puerto Rican, recently moved to N.Y. to pursue a recently acquired job in the Immigration office.

Having known her intimately and being a really close friend I can testify she also did not voluntarily had sex with this man, specially not by barely knowing him for a few days. I can bet my head on this! (Which would make this all even more freaky than what it already is.)

She is also non-argumentative and avoided heated situations. She had a calm temper and was quite civil and carefully chose her words.

She was not his girlfriend either.

Reading inhumane and obnoxious and irrelevant and bigoted comments towards this is very hurtful for her friends and family.

~Oz Haver

guest

sad story indeed,

cause we all know there's no crime perpetrated by hispanics towards asians.

guest

Sad story. This guy obviously has severe mental problems.

guest

Oh, and I just realized that the Latin Kings, MS13 or the myriad of other Hispanic-based gangs might take a particular interest in this fellow - after all...

guest

What's the going rate these days for an Asian guy in the big house - is it 2 or 3 packs of Marlboros? In any case, it's a good thing he wears glasses - so as to prevent stuff from getting in his eyes...

guest

All the asian chicks I've dated have always been eager-to-please little sycophants. I guess when you're 4'11" with the personality of a doorknob and you meet a 6'2" white dude with some charisma, it's understandable...

guest

Exactly. Asian guys can date outside their race. Since yellow fever has been rampant, why can't Asian guys date interracially? Does it only apply to Asian girls? At first it wasn't so bad because the ones afflicted with yellow fever would only date the ugly Asian girls. However, over time they have wised up and started dating the good looking ones.

guest

Finally, an Asian dude with some taste - rather than settling for the lame flavorless and predictable Asian chick....

guest

Don't know about you guys, but I am very impressed by the fact that this guy dated a Hispanic chick. I can't wait to see the pictures of her....

guest

Quoting 3:
"damn. bro. asian guy commits crime? what is this world coming to? oh wait he's half asian. that explains it."

Oh no, it's Fu Manchu and the Yellow Peril!

ed_Extinct

he'll plea temp insanity.

guest

Fortune Cookie Say: "Man who sleep next to dead body wake-up with stiffy"

guest

Chin Lenahan is described as an unemployed artist. That sounds like the typical hipster scumbag. This loser didn't even have the common decency to kill himself.

And what's with the grandmother? Mama-san didn't hear a woman getting brutally murdered? Didn't she notice the smell of the rotting body? Was she planning to make some soup out of the corpse?

What a bunch of sick people that family is.

guest

reality czech is the kind of guy who probably has a big hairy mole on his penis and is all hung up about it

guest

what do you guys mean, L&O eps are based off of fictional characters and events. do you guys remember the michael jackson episode? he was identified by the mole on his penis.