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Radio Topia. From

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PRX.

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Two years ago, a former detective named

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Angel Irizarry set out on a personal

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investigation to track down an

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uncle who had been out of touch with the family for

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decades.

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But early in his search, he made a

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disappointing discovery. His uncle,

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Caesar, had died.

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From Radio Diaries, I'm Joe Richman and this is The

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Unmarked Graveyard, a series untangling

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mysteries from America's largest public cemetery.

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Each week we're bringing you stories about people buried

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on Hart Island, the lives they lived,

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and the people they left behind. Hi,

0:47

honey. Hi, baby. There were thousands

0:50

of questions. Where's his family?

0:53

Where's his people? Neil Harris

0:55

was last seen in Inwood, New York on December 12, 2014.

0:58

The playwright,

1:00

novelist, and author of Happy Island, Ms.

1:02

Dawn Powell. You can't help

1:04

but wonder what her life has been. Annette

1:07

found you, she found us, and we're

1:09

here. Now we know who you are.

1:14

Today, episode six, the story

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of Angel Irizarry and his long

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lost uncle, Caesar. All

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right, this is Angel Irizarry.

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I just received the

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death certificate of my uncle, Caesar.

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It says the date of death was July

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19th, 2020, which

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would have made Uncle Caesar 64 years old.

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And

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it says place of disposition

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is City Cemetery at Hart Island.

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Everything else pretty much says unknown.

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The usual occupation unknown,

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kind of business unknown. It says

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mother and parents are unknown.

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But the truth of the matter is he died. does have

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family and he did have family. Uncle

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Caesar was estranged from our family, I would

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say about 40 to 50 years. I'm 45

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years old and I only

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seen him one time. I

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think I was probably about six or seven sitting

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on the floor playing with toys at

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my grandparents house and

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then there was this tall

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dark new gentleman standing

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at the door. I

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looked and was like who the heck are

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you? You know you look like my dad close

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to a spitting image and I have never

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seen you before. I

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think I went to my dad and was like you know

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who is this guy? My

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dad was like that's your uncle Caesar but

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after that I never seen him again.

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From

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that point forward I was asking questions

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like well where is he? How come I don't see this guy?

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My aunts and even my grandparents

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wouldn't want to speak a word

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of who uncle Caesar was.

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There

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would be times that I would go through

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some pictures and I would ask

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hey who's this guy and people would say that's

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nobody.

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My father did finally sit me down and told

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me that when uncle Caesar was about

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21-22 he was hanging

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out with a very bad crowd who

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used to drink a lot. One

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day he came to the house asking

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my grandfather for money and

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my grandfather was very mad

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at him because he was drunk

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and uncle Caesar punks my

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grandfather and then my

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grandfather told him that he was banished

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from the family forever. It's

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sad, man. He was isolated from the

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family, so I know that's sad, man. I know it's sad

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for me. I start relating

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to him more as a

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teenager, to the point that I was like, well,

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I can see how people get banished because I felt

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like, I was kinda like, what's happening to me

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a little bit? I was

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getting into some, I

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don't wanna creminate myself, but I was getting into some things

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that had to do with gangs,

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drugs, alcohol, to

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the point that I got kicked out

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of my house. But I

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became the man that I am now because of my father

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and the family who stood by my side. And

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I believe that Uncle Caesar,

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he was a man who needed to be forgiven,

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just like I need to be forgiven. I

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always knew that he was out there and I always

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wanted more of a relationship with him. And

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now that he's gone, I start

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looking to see if anyone knew

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him, someone who can

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give me a little bit of insight on how

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he died, but also how he

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lived. Okay,

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so today, me and my wife,

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we just drove from Virginia to the Bronx, New

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York. We're going to

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the last place where Caesar lived

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before he passed. We were able to locate

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his roommate who he lived with.

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Hi,

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nice to meet you. Yeah, yeah, how are you being? My

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friend is not so good, so

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he's going to speak for me. Yo,

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Estas, no interpretation, no, William. Okay.

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So I am the nephew

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of Caesar Irizarry. My

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name is William Calderon. I lived

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with Cesar. Saturday, I think

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five, six, seven years. I

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can start from the beginning if you want.

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Yeah, definitely. How did you

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come to meet him? Yeah,

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my mom and I, we went out rooms so

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we can make rent. And he came and

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rented out a small room. But

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then, due to his drinking, we started

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to have some issues. And he decided

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himself to go to rehab. That

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time, he lasted about a year, almost

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a year, without drinking. But

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then he started drinking again. But

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he started to calm down with time,

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and we started to have a really good relationship.

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Would you consider him a good man?

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Of course, great person.

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The only thing is that when he

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started drinking, he would become someone

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else. But

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he was good to me and my mom. And

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he would pay his rent first day of the month when

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he would get his check from the government. Why

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did the government take care of him? He wasn't working? No.

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No, he did not work. What

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did he do all day? We

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would talk with Chad. He would talk to me

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about his family. He

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would say that he had a family, but he wasn't in

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touch with any of them.

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And he would

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say he felt bad for not being what his family

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wanted him to be. And

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he said he knew he was the one who messed up

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with his family, and he was the one that

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strayed away.

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That's actually why

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he would call his dad. And

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his dad would get annoyed because he'd be drunk when

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he called.

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You know, if

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Caesar contacted my grandfather

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and he was drunk, that

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type of situation

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brings back the past.

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He would tell us precisely

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that. I'm

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laughing. It's not funny, but I'm laughing

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because that's exactly what he would tell us. That

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he's that hated when he called him while he was

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drunk.

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Did he pass away in this house? Do you

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know when he passed?

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I remember

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it like it was today. It was July

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4th and he went out as usual

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to drink. And

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then from the park they called the ambulance because

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he couldn't stand up or walk or

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handle himself. When

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I got the call from the hospital, I was told

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his organs started failing and that he

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could stop breathing at any moment. They

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asked me if I wanted to say anything to him over

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the phone. And I told

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him, Cesar, remember

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there's a God and that I'm with you. And

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I couldn't continue speaking with him because

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I started tearing up and I couldn't say anything else.

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But the doctor said, rest

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assured that he heard you because he moved

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his hand when you were speaking.

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That's beautiful, man. That's

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beautiful. This

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whole

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situation really shows you

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that

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time is short and you

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don't have time to hold grudges.

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Let

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me tell you something that might give you some peace.

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He wasn't with his own family, but

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I can tell you that he was loved. While

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he lived here, he had that love of a family.

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He would even tell us, my mom and I, you're

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my family.

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So that makes me feel more happy than anything.

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And thank you for being his friend.

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It really goes and shows that it

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doesn't have to be blood to be family.

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When

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he passed away, they called me from the hospital

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asking what should they do with

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his body and I told them

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that he himself, when he was alive, told

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me for the government to take care of it. I

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don't even know where they buried him.

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Chest 1-2, 1-2, we

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are here at the beginning of the ferry

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to go to Heart Island and

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at this time we're going to go see the

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grave site of Uncle Caesar.

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He's more alive to me now. He's

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more alive to me now because I

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walked in the place where he walked. I talked

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to the people he talked to. This

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is your spot. Oh, this is it? Yes,

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sir. And I wanted

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to speak with him.

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Uncle Caesar, we're here.

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I wish I could have known you more. I

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wish I could have spent time with you

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and I'm sorry

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for that, but I never

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forgot about you.

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And everything that we

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have done as a family against you, we ask

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for forgiveness and everything that you

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have done against us, we forgive you. Until

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we meet again, Uncle Caesar, God bless

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you, Deals of Endiga, in Jesus' name,

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Amen.

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That was Angel Irizarry remembering

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his Uncle Caesar.

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Our story was produced by Elisa Escarce,

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Daniel Gross, and Tyler Brady. It

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was edited by Deborah George, Ben Shapiro, and

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me. Our interpreter was Ramon Mendez,

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sound mixing by Mitra Kaboli.

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The Razi Daire's team also includes

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Nellie Gillis, Micah Hazel, and Lena Engelstein.

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The story was reported in collaboration with the

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Missing Them Project from the nonprofit news

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site The City, thanks to editor Anjali

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Tzui. Missing Them is supported in part

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by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation

12:29

at Columbia University, and thanks to our broadcast

12:31

partner NPR's All Things Considered. We're

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proud members of RadioTopia from PRX, a

12:36

network of independent, creator-owned listeners

12:38

supporting the podcasts. You can hear them all

12:41

at radiotopia.fm. Radio

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Daire has support from the National Endowment for the Humanities,

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the Lilly Auchincloss Foundation, New York

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City's Department of Cultural Affairs, and

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from listeners like you.

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Coming up on the

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unmarked graveyard, the mystery of a

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woman who lived in a hotel room in Midtown

13:05

Manhattan. Fakohas Gawa

13:08

lived here for at least 40, 50 years,

13:11

and she lived alone. You

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see such a person and you can't help but

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wonder what her life has been. I'm

13:19

Joe Richmond of Radio Diaries. See you

13:21

next week.

13:23

RadioTopia from PRX.

13:29

Thanks for watching.