Linda Clary had reached her breaking point.
The grieving mother stormed out of a Manhattan courtroom during the closing arguments of her son's three-week-long murder trial in February.
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WATCH HEREIn the restroom down the hall, she fell to her knees, praying for her son, the jurors, and the three men on trial for his murder and that of another young man.
As she prayed, another mother entered — the mother of one of the defendants, Jacob Barroso.
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SIGN UP "I immediately stood up and she said 'Are you alright?' and I said 'No, I'm not,'" Clary said.
The two mothers embraced.
"It was two moms who are in agony and pain, coming together and somehow appreciating each other's agony and pain," she said through tears. "And I feel like it was truly a divine, other kingdomly moment that words cannot describe."
But prayers could not save either son.
“I don’t get to see John”
On Wednesday, Barroso, 32, Jayqwan Hamilton, 37, and Robert DeMaio, 36 were sentenced to decades in prison for murdering Clary's son, 33-year-old John Umberger, and 25-year-old Julio Ramirez in the spring of 2022.
The trio worked together to drug and rob Umberger, Ramirez and three others — who survived — after having met them outside popular city gay bars and nightclubs, according to prosecutors.
The defendants drugged the victims to the point of unconsciousness — using a concoction that included fentanyl — before they used their lifeless faces to unlock their cellphones through facial recognition technology. With access to the victims' devices, the men drained thousands of dollars from their banking apps and used payment apps to buy food, shoes, alcohol and other items, prosecutors said.
All three defendants were convicted of Ramirez’s murder, while Hamilton and DeMaio were convicted of Umberger’s. All three had maintained their innocence.
Barroso’s mother and family members of the other men convicted of murder could not be reached for comment.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that Jacob Barroso’s mother loves him, his uncle loves him, his family loves him. And they showed up as much as I did during the trial," Clary said. "And yet something happened, and he lost his way.”
“They still get to see each other,” she added. “I don’t get to see John.”
The last time Clary saw her son was three years ago when she went to collect his body.
It's that moment, she said, that fuels her endurance.
She spent the next three years relentlessly pressing the New York City Police Department, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the mayor's office, the media and anyone who would listen, determined to ensure that her son's case was not forgotten.
Clary traveled from her home in North Carolina to New York City time and time again, meeting with investigators and officials, attending arraignments for her son's then-accused killers, virtually every pre-trial hearing, the three-week-long trial and finally, Wednesday's sentencing.
“I really wanted to hate New York and see it as a city that took John away from me, from us,” she said. “And it’s been part of the healing process that has been this beautiful thing.”
A mother finally rests
Umberger, a former political consultant, moved to New York several weeks before his death for his job at a nonprofit.
Although he was relatively new to the city, he quickly developed a list of favorite restaurants he shared with his mom, including Minetta Tavern, the Waverly Inn and Lil' Frankies.
Clary marked Wednesday's sentencing at one of her son's favorite spots, the French restuarant La Goulue, surrounded by dozens of his friends and family. The restaurant is located across the street from the Upper East Side townhouse where Umberger lived — and were he tragically died.
"John was so excited about taking on New York City. And in some ways, ironically with what happened, even though he is not physically here, he took on New York City and he won. It just cost him his life," she added.
Clary said that one of the most challenging moments throughout the last three years was watching surveillance footage shown during the trial of her son leaving a Hell Kitchen's gay bar on the night he died.
The footage showed Umberger leaving The Q NYC alone in a car and then returning several minutes later for unknown reasons. He was then seen departing the front of the bar with the men later found guilty for his murder, Hamilton and DeMaio.
"There was something that kept drawing John back to the front of that club. It's almost like you want to jump out of the seat and scream 'Stop John! Go back home' and it didn't happen," she said. "Seeing how vulnerable he was and by himself. He seemed quite happy to go off with his new friends."
Umberger's friends — a diverse group of men and women spanning several generations — described him as a "connector," someone who can light up a room and befriend any stranger.
At Wednesday's hearing, Neil Chatterjee, one of Umberger’s friends, reflected on Umberger's friendly nature.
"You didn’t have to kill him, You didn’t even have to rob him. If you needed money, he would have given it to you. He would have hung out with you," he said. "Instead you chose to go down the malicious path and now your lives are forever ruined."
Clary returned home to North Carolina later this week. She said she plans to visit New York periodically and volunteer her time to the LGBTQ community in the near future.
But for now, she will be spending time with her three other adult children, enjoying her new grandchildren and taking care of her 95-year-old father, she said.
After three years traveling back and forth to New York, pressing local officials and advocating for her son in the media, Clary also plans to rest.
"There is no doubt in my mind that I will be together with John again," Clary said.
"God is taking a bad, evil thing that happened and making good out of it," she added.
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