Unsolved case: Investigators want to solve mysterious murder of Brooklyn taxi driver 34 years ago

On June 16, 1990, 22-year-old Leonardo Luna was picking up a passenger in Brooklyn at around 2 p.m. when he suddenly radioed his dispatcher that he was canceling the call and would pick up another, mysterious passenger instead.

Accordingly NYPD That was the last time Detective John Hidalgo was heard from.

“That may have seemed odd in some circles,” Hidalgo said. “But he ignored the original call, which came in and went away and was never heard from again.”

Not long after his last assignment, Luna was found dead in his car near Owl's Head Park on 68th Street in Bay Ridge. 34 years after his murder, the NYPD is still searching for the person responsible – and Hidalgo, who is in charge of the case, does not want the murdered taxi driver to be forgotten.

Inside the case

About an hour after Luna canceled his scheduled pickup on June 16, 1990, his car was found on 68th Street. At first glance, nothing seemed unusual. The engine was turned off and the car was parked neatly at the curb.

But a pedestrian passing by noticed Luna slumped in the driver's seat. The police officers who arrived found that Luna had been stabbed multiple times.

The motive did not appear to be robbery; police said Luna was still wearing his jewelry and had money in his wallet when he was found.

“The fact that his property was still there really tells me it wasn't a robbery,” Hidalgo said, adding that the perpetrator could well have been the person he was trying to pick up. “We know he ignored the original call. We know he said he would take another call. So that just makes me think someone broke in.”

The year Luna was murdered in 1990 saw the highest murder rate in New York City history since the NYPD began keeping crime statistics. The department recorded 2,605 murders in 1990, an average of seven murders per day—a number that overwhelmed the Homicide Division with the number of cases it had to solve, and Luna's murder was just one of them.

Much has changed in the last 34 years. The city's murder rate is now a fraction of what it was in 1990, with only 386 murders reported in 2023. But that's little consolation for Luna's loved ones, and Hidalgo – a member of the New York Police Department's cold case unit – is working hard to finally bring his killer to justice.

Hidalgo says he has learned a lot about Luna since taking on the mystery that still lingers more than three decades later. Family and friends affectionately called Luna “Tony,” who worked as a taxi driver for at least six months to make ends meet. He was a loving brother who grew up not far from where he was killed and left a hole in the hearts of everyone who knew him.

During the investigation, police collected evidence, the analysis of which revealed genetic material that could one day help them find Luna's killer.

The police are currently asking the public for help. Anyone who remembers that fateful day in 1990 or knew Luna should come forward.

“I hope that with the help of the public, even if someone picks up a newspaper and says, 'Oh, I remember that,' maybe something will come to light,” Hidalgo said.

Hidalgo also had a message for the perpetrator in case he was reading the New York subway.

“One day, that person or those people who might have been involved will meet their maker. And you know, it would be special to go public and come clean,” Hidalgo said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit information online through the Crime Stoppers website at. crimestoppers.nypdonline.orgon Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages will be treated confidentially.