Brooklyn Mirage Victim's Dad Fears NYC Has Forgotten His Son

WILLIAMSBURG, NY — Alex Clemente still doesn't know why his son, whose life's work was helping kids navigate mental health and developmental issues, was found floating in Newtown Creek after vanishing from the Brooklyn Mirage.

"We don't have any closure," Alex Clemente told Patch. "It's really tough every day."

Karl Clemente, 27, is one of two young men who disappeared this summer from the East Williamsburg venue only to be found dead in the waterway that divides Brooklyn and Queens.

To Clemente, it seemed like the media only really started to care about Karl Clemente's death in June after Goldman Sachs analyst John Castic, 27, went missing from the Mirage and turned up in Newton Creek on Aug. 1.

His concerns are echoed by City Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, who fears discrimination has touched the investigation. She notes her request that NYPD officials update the grieving father went unheeded for about a week.

"This just does not sound dignified," Gutiérrez said.

The Medical Examiner has yet to determine a cause of death for Clemente or Castic, according to the NYPD.

The NYPD declined to answer Patch’s request for an update on the investigation — specifically whether or not there was a link between the two cases — in a statement that got Karl’s age wrong.

And as new headlines blur the story, and he waits for answers to tragic questions, it's up to Alex to remind New York City Karl Clemente was a man who gave much to his community.

With pride, Clemente noted some 200 people showed up to Karl's burial, including old classmates of Karl's from the University of Albany and many of the young people with whom Karl worked.

"This boy really had an impact to the community," Alex Clemente said. "The room was stunning."

Karl, a Clinical Case Manager at the Advance Care Alliance of New York, was also active in Filipino groups in college and in New York City, his father said.

Friends and co-workers noted Karl’s bright spirit on a GoFundMe that raised over $28,000 for funeral services.

Former co-worker Kaitlin Jaeger left a comment on the GoFundMe detailing Karl’s demeanor at Northern Rivers Family of Services in Kingston, New York.

"He always had such a bright, energetic, and kind nature to him," said Jaeger. "I’ll forever remember how Karl brought the party wherever he went and how he could make anyone smile. ... Karl was truly an amazing soul."

Karl's second passion, music, is what landed Karl at the Mirage on June 11. Clemente was a guitarist and composer performing freelance in New York City before he went missing.

"My kid never hurt anyone," Clemente said.

Months after his body was found, updates from police have been far and few between, Alex Clemente said.

That's one reason Gutiérrez has pledged to stay on the department's case.

The other is that Gutiérrez is the daughter of immigrants who remind her of Alex Clemente, a retired Con Edison engineer, and Karl's mother Mary Ann Villanueva-Clemente, a former nurse at Jacobi Medical Center.

"I really saw my family so much in them," Gutiérrez said.

Gutiérrez said her office is doing what it can to ensure what happened to Clemente and Castic doesn't happen again. Those efforts include installing better lighting and cell service near Brooklyn Mirage.

Alex Clemente just wants to know there won't be a third headline about a third young man lost too soon.

"It's not gonna bring my son back," Clemente said. "[But] I'm not going to give up easy."