Annabel Richter's Tragic NYC Journey Sparks Heartfelt Reactions
See more of our coverage in your search results.
She was on her own in the concrete jungle. Fashion Institute of Technology student Annabel Richter bravely moved thousands of miles away from home to chase her dreams alone in Gotham, a shattered family friend told The Post, but her courageous solo journey was cut short by a twisted predator who allegedly drugged her and then raped her while she was dying from a fentanyl overdose.Prosecutors say Moises Freire, 19, drugged Richter, 21, and her roommate inside their Chelsea dorm in March. Annabel Richter’s mother shared an angelic photo of her on Instagram. Instagram/Flavia RochaBoth unconscious women were eventually rushed to the hospital but only the roommate survived.“She struck me as very sweet and kind,” Christina Perez, a longtime friend of Richter’s grandmother, told The Post Friday. “She was very bright.”Perez said Richter’s entire family was living in Sao Paulo, Brazil, except her grandmother, who lives in Washington state, when she went to college.“She wanted to go to New York,” Perez said. “The idea worried me a bit because she didn’t have anyone there — her family was still in Brazil.”The grandmother, Virginia “Gini” Richter, is in shambles and “suffering a great deal” since the horrific death.She said the rest of Richter’s family came to the states for her memorial service in Portland, Ore. Richter was described as “sweet and “bright.” Instagram/Flavia Rocha“I can only imagine what it’s like for her parents. It’s a terrible situation. Very, very sad,” Perez said. Richter’s mother Flavia Rocha, a Brazilian poet and journalist, shared a tear-jerking tribute to her daughter on Instagram a few days after she died.“It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of our daughter Annabel, so dearly loved by all of us. Her light remains alive in our hearts. Forever,” she wrote.Her whole family was in Brazil, except her grandmother, when she went to FIT. Stephen Yang for NY PostRocha also shared a poem Richter wrote when she was 10 years old titled “What is Red?” She shared an angelic photo of her daughter in a light pink top.“Bel and I would often discuss how women who suffered violence would rarely have a voice. I hope that Annabel’s story brings awareness, and meets justice,” the heartbroken mother previously told The Post.Freire allegedly told the women he was bringing them cocaine from Mexico — even after he’d tried the fentanyl a week earlier and likened it to “poison” in a text to a friend, according to shocking court papers unsealed Thursday.Freire, who was not an FIT student, allegedly gave both victims the dangerous drug in their dorm room on March 18. It’s not clear how Richter and her roommate knew Freire.Richter believed she was taking cocaine, prosecutors said. Instagram/Flavia RochaHe then raped Richter while she was unconscious, prosecutors say, and allegedly waited 45 minutes before calling campus security. First responders gave them both Narcan before rushing them to the hospital.Freire also allegedly took photos of Richter while she was knocked out and naked from the waist down to share with his friends. He also lied to campus security that the two women were unconscious because they simply had too much to drink — and claimed that he’d somehow not noticed that his victim was passed out until after he was finished having sex with her, prosecutors say.“It is truly hard to believe that the defendant, who seemed entirely coherent and sober at the time, who didn’t have any of the substance, who is captured on the security guard’s body-worn camera seeming coherent and sober, didn’t know what was going on when he was having sex with the victim who was completely unconscious,” prosecutor Ariana Bloom said at an April court hearing.Freire’s friend, Brian Peralta Cabrera, 18, of Queens, was separately hit with narcotics conspiracy charges for alleging helping Freire get the lethal fentanyl.Freire and Peralta Cabrera were first arrested in March. They pleaded not guilty to an initial set of charges that did not include the rape allegation and remain in custody. Freire is due back in court Oct. 28 to be arraigned on upgraded charges of distributing a controlled substance with the intent to commit rape, along with other narcotics charges. He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison, and a maximum of life if convicted.A third man, Harry Rosales Pino, has pleaded guilty to narcotics distribution resulting in death.
