Lyric McHenry’s, the 26-year-old aspiring filmmaker and social justice activist, whose body was found in the Bronx on August 14, died of an overdose of cocaine, alcohol, and heroin, according to E! News. A 29-year-old man, Alexis Meija-Ramirez, has been arrested and charged with with concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence in connection to McHenry's death.
McHenry was celebrating her 26th birthday at the Dream Hotel in New York City, when she left unexpectedly.
A criminal complaint alleges that Meija-Ramirez and “two other male individuals” placed McHenry’s body on the Major Deegan Highway overpass in the Bronx where she was discovered and transported to the hospital in the early morning hours. The police identified the suspects through phone records, witness interviews, and video surveillance footage. Meija-Ramirez is currently free on bail.
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In the immediate wake of McHenry’s death, salacious reporting erroneously reported that she had been discovered in a pajama top with no pants. She was, in fact, wearing a slip dress given to her by her mother, a celebrity stylist. Most reports identified McHenry as a reality star — she appeared with her long-time best friend EJ Johnson on E’s EJNYC for one season. Friends and family however took issue with this depiction of McHenry, a Stanford graduate who spoke out passionately around issues of race and equality and who had recently produced a film. While an autopsy revealed that McHenry was about 20 weeks pregnant at the time of her death, those closest to her insist she was not aware of the pregnancy.
McHenry’s sister Maya, speaking with Refinery29 earlier this year, described her sister as caring, fiercely intelligent, and loving.
“The thing about Lyric is that she didn’t care how much money you have or where you come from. She always cared about the type of person you are. Lyric was a leader, and she always taught people to really believe in themselves," she said. "Everybody always came to Lyric for advice because she was so good at realizing and knowing your worth, Lyric would always tell you, 'You can do this.' She would uplift people. She was a leader and she always, always made people feel very special. She was a motivator.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.