Make New York Post a Preferred Source The maniac who bludgeoned a beloved Central Park bird artist to death with a stick admitted he bashed her “more than 20 times,” Manhattan prosecutors revealed Thursday at his arraignment.
Jonathan Robles, 36, allegedly told cops he was acting in self-defense, claiming Lee Rogers, 63, had hit him first with a stick — before he snatched it and beat her to a pulp.
“She hit me on my body with a stick, so I took the stick from her,” Robles told police, according to the criminal complaint.
“I hit her with it more than 20 times. I did it until she couldn’t hit me anymore.”
Robles appeared virtually from the hospital — where he’s set to undergo a psychiatric evaluation — for his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court. The nutjob turned himself in after fatally beating Rogers, a talented homeless artist known for her wildlife watercolors of birds, inside Central Park on Sept. 27.
Her body was found Monday morning in a gazebo near the park’s boathouse near 74th Street and East Drive.
The two got into a dispute that escalated into violence, sources told The Post.
Prosecutors said Rogers, who was homeless, died from blunt force trauma to her head — and the stick was found broken into pieces and covered in blood near her body.
Rogers, who referred to herself as Francis Lee Rogers, was also known as Elise Bainbridge Hill — the subject of the acclaimed 2007 documentary “Begging Naked,” which documented her life and tragic path to homelessness.
The flick details how the artist ran away from home as a teen to the Big Apple, where she fell into prostitution and drug addiction.
Friends remembered Rogers as a talented bird-loving painter who fell on hard times recently.
“She was like the Grandma Moses of Central Park,” Nature walk guide Robert DeCandido said, comparing Rogers to the famed 1950s American folk painter.
DeCandido, who goes by “Birding Bob,” also said Rogers often refilled the bird feeders which got her an in with Central Park birders, who then snatched up her artwork.
“She was fun to talk to, she knew wildlife, she knew animal behavior,” Joe Lopez, one of Rogers’ friends, remembered. “It’s not like she just sat there and painted, she really knew more than an artist would about these animals. And I found that intriguing.”
Prosecutors charged Robles with murder in the second degree, which carries a maximum prison sentence of life behind bars if convicted.
He was ordered remanded by Judge Sheridan Jack-Browne and scheduled to undergo a psych evaluation to determine if he’s fit to stand trial.
“It’s clear to anyone that he has a serious mental health issue and that will be addressed through the court case,” Robles’ attorney, Mitchell Schuman, told The Post after the hearing.
Robles is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 13.
