january3–16, 2022 | newyork 17
JAVIER
VELASCO, 37MARCH 19
J
avier velasco met Amanda Holland
Van Stry in January 2016, when the
radiator in her co-op needed fixing and
Velasco, an assistant super, claimed the ticket.
“I still remember the first time I saw you,” he
wrote in the suicide note he left for Van Stry
five years later. “I knew I was fucked. I fell in
love with you that exact second.”Velasco was a popular figure at the apart-
ment complex in Queens: gifted with a saw,
quick to lend a hand to older residents. Van
Stry, who was 39 at the time, had left her
job running fashion advertising for Macy’s
and Bloomingdale’s to focus on her young
children and managing her multiple scle-
rosis. On their first date, Velasco surprisedA letter Velasco sent to his wife. The flowers were drawn for him by another inmate.
PHOTOGRAPH: ANDY ZALKIN (VELASCO), COURTESY OF AMANDA HOLLAND VAN STRY