About five years ago, a man received a phone call from his longtime neighbor, who had something on his mind: He was worried about what color their West Village landlord would paint the hallways of their buildings.
The man, Dean Whetzel, knew his neighbor Dana Escoffier was one to fuss over matters that others found trivial. Mr. Whetzel assured Mr. Escoffier that the paint job would be a tasteful white with blue trim.
For nearly half a century, the two men, who lived in buildings around the corner from each other with the same landlord, always seemed to get on well, according to tenants, the buildings’ superintendent and family members. Mr. Escoffier, 79, would often see Mr. Whetzel, 82, walking his dog, Buddy, and he used to wash his clothes at the laundromat that Mr. Whetzel and his husband had owned.
Then a fleeting sidewalk encounter weeks ago left one of the men dead and the other facing criminal charges.
On Oct. 11, Mr. Whetzel bumped into Mr. Escoffier on Hudson Street near West 10th Street, close to their homes, according to the police and a criminal complaint. Angered, Mr. Escoffier shoved Mr. Whetzel.
Mr. Whetzel fell back and smacked his head on the concrete. Soon after, Mr. Escoffier was charged with harassment and third-degree assault, the complaint said.
He was arraigned the next day, pleaded not guilty and was released.
But on Nov. 5, Mr. Whetzel died from his injuries, and his death was ruled a homicide, the police said late Monday night. Manhattan prosecutors have not yet determined whether Mr. Escoffier will now be charged in the homicide.
Neither Mr. Escoffier nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.
Mr. Whetzel and Mr. Escoffier first moved into the prewar building complex in the early 1970s, when the Village still had a bohemian feel and attracted artists.
Mr. Whetzel and the man he later married, Rodger Kepler, quickly became fixtures in the neighborhood. Mr. Whetzel, a fashion designer who often traveled to Milan on business for Barneys New York, the famous department store that was then on Seventh Avenue, would host newcomers when he was in town, Mr. Kepler said.
In 1986, he and Mr. Kepler opened Charles Street Laundromat, a wash-and-fold that later attracted celebrities like the actress Natalie Portman and the supermodel Cindy Crawford, Mr. Kepler said.
Less was known about Mr. Escoffier during those years, according to longtime neighbors. But he made headlines in 2000 when his landlord attempted to evict him from his rent-controlled apartment on Hudson Street.
The reason the landlord gave, Mr. Escoffier said at the time, was that Mr. Escoffier could not be the tenant on record in the apartment where he had lived 28 years because he looked too young.
“I may be soft-spoken, but I am a fighter and I stand my ground,” Mr. Escoffier told The New York Times.
He eventually won. But he was a solitary figure, said Virgil Olaru, the superintendent.
“He’s always just by himself,” Mr. Olaru said. “He has no friends in the building.”
Still, Mr. Escoffier remained in his apartment, and so did Mr. Whetzel, around the corner.
Around 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, Mr. Whetzel was out with his dog when he bumped into Mr. Escoffier in front of Cowgirl, a Southwestern restaurant in between their buildings, according to the police and the criminal complaint. After Mr. Escoffier shoved his neighbor, he walked away.
“I pushed him because he bumped into me,” Mr. Escoffier said to a passerby, the complaint said.
That afternoon, Mr. Kepler said he received a call from the police.
Mr. Kepler soon learned that Mr. Whetzel had fractured his skull, which caused severe brain bleeding. He was in a coma until his death.
On Tuesday, Mr. Kepler rocked back in his chair in the dimly lit apartment he had shared with Mr. Whetzel for 52 years.
Buddy sat at his feet. Mr. Kepler said he was comforted when he learned the dog, a 13-year-old cairn terrier, had tried to jump into the ambulance to be with Mr. Whetzel.
Mr. Kepler said he had not left the apartment in weeks. “Every time people just ask me about Dean,” he said. “What will I tell them?”
Nearby, a collared shirt and a pair of jeans, freshly dry cleaned, hung from a hanger in a doorway. Mr. Kepler gestured toward the clothes.
“Those are Dean’s,” he said. “I haven’t been able to take them down.”
Chelsia Rose Marcius is a criminal justice reporter for The Times, covering the New York Police Department.
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