Murdered Pimp Found in Midtown Manhattan Hilton

The body found in a Manhattan hotel room on Monday has been identified and his death ruled a homicide.

Police have officially labeled the death of a 28-year-old man found in a New York City hotel room a homicide. Roderick Goodwin, of Bridgeton, N.J., was discovered early Monday morning hidden underneath a mattress in a room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Midtown Manhattan. He suffered from multiple blunt force trauma and homicidal asphyxia, ABC7 New York reported.

Police identified Goodwin as a pimp. Prior to the murder, a woman and three men were in the hotel room with him, and other guests reported screaming coming from the room. Detectives believe Goodwin was the victim of a robbery at the hands of one of his prostitutes, who brought the men with her to steal the thousands of dollars in cash he was often known to carry.

Investigators said that Goodwin had spent every night at a different hotel in the days leading up to his death. His prostitutes would go out to work for the night and then bring the money back to him at the hotel.

“We’ve identified six people, including the victim. We are trying to define exactly what it was,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told ABC7. “It’s part of a robbery and a certain criminal situation. We’re not ready to give out too much more than that because we have people to speak to right now. A safe was taken from the room. We don’t know the contents of that safe.”

[Photo: ABC7 New York]