Trinidad Saucedo was disabled and lived in a downtown hotel room in East Village. He spent a great deal of his time socializing with friends at a downtown bar called Jesse James. Saucedo was well-known in the neighborhood because of his flamboyant personality, his drinking and his prosthetic leg. Saucedo was also known to carry large amounts of cash.

On the morning of March 21, 1973, Saucedo was found dead in his room by the hotel manager. Saucedo had been strangled to death. Detectives surmised that the motive for the murder was robbery, inasmuch as all of Saucedos money was missing from his room.

Saucedo was last seen the night before his death drinking; first at Jesse James Bar and then the Lucky Lady Bar. He was in the company of a white female in her fifties, possibly named Linda and a black male possibly named Jackson. Saucedo appeared to be extremely intoxicated, and witnesses overheard the female asking him for money several times before Saucedo left.