On May 24, 2000, 27-year-old Jean Dumel Auguste, manager of a Wendy’s in Flushing, Queens, was among five employees murdered in a robbery that began shortly after the restaurant closed. Two men, one described as a former employee who knew the layout and procedures, forced Auguste to call staff to the basement for a supposed meeting. The victims were bound, gagged, had plastic bags placed over their heads, and were then shot. Auguste died along with Ali Ibadat, 40; Anita Smith, 23; Jeremy Ryan Mele, 18; and Ramon Nazario, Jr., 44. Two other employees survived and later provided testimony.

Approximately $2,400 was taken from the restaurant safe. The NYPD arrested John Taylor and Craig Godineaux within 48 hours; ballistics, fingerprints and eyewitness accounts were cited in the investigation. Craig Godineaux pleaded guilty on January 22, 2001, and was sentenced to life in prison. John Taylor was convicted on five counts of first-degree murder on November 19, 2002, and received a death sentence that was later commuted after New York’s death penalty statute was declared unconstitutional in 2004.

Did anyone in the community work with Jean Auguste or remember him from the Flushing Wendy’s who can share what he was like?