Arrest 1 month after father of 3 found with fractured skull in front of Bronx home

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Police arrest man accused of beating Bronx father to death
The arrest comes one month after the father's death in the Bronx.

BELMONT, Bronx (WABC) -- Police have made an arrest one month after a 35-year-old father was found fatally struck in the head in the Bronx.

Phillip Roseburgh was discovered by a relative unconscious and bleeding in front of his Garden Street home in the Belmont section around 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 20.

Authorities say he was ambushed and beaten.

He had been relaxing in the small courtyard of the building and had been talking to a neighbor named Afiya about his children and her son.

"Right before the situation happened he was coming in the building to get the kids and within a couple of minutes, it just happened so fast," she said.

But what happened precisely, no one is sure. "I know that he got into an altercation in front of the building, I don't know with who, but he hit his head and once he hit his head he fell unconscious," said Afiya.

Roseburgh hit his head on the pavement and was out cold. Family members found him and he was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical condition with what is believed to be a fractured skull. He died days later from his injuries.

Neighbors described him as a loving father of three who could regularly be seen walking his two sons and daughter to school.

"It's crazy," an area resident said. "It's scary, disgusting. I feel so bad for him, because he's a single father. He was raising a girl and two boys, and it's sad."

The suspect fled the scene, but was arrested on Monday, March 19.

Police arrested Ceasar Johnson, 19, and charged him with murder.

Detectives did not immediately have a motive for the assault, and anyone with information is urged to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.

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