NEW ROCHELLE, NY (April 12, 2023) — Bryan Jeremiah Stamps, known as “BJ”, a 20-year-old man formerly from New Rochelle but residing in Gadsen, Alabama, was found dead today in the Coosa River, according to Gadsen Police.
According to local news reports, Stamps was reported missing by his family on April 7, 2023. A search involving boat crews from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and several area police departments searched the river below the Megihan Boulevard bridge after Gadsden Police Officers located a 2002 Honda Accord belonging to Stamps.
Fishermen located Stamp’s body in the Coosa River earlier today.
Gadsden Det. Lt. Scott Lumpkin said there was no indication that Stamps jumped from the bridge. An investigation is ongoing.
Stamps was well-known in New Rochelle.
He was involved in two stabbing incidents in New Rochelle, one at Isaac E. Young Middle School in 2016 and one at New Rochelle High School in 2018.
As an 8th grader, Stamps stabbed a classmate at Isaac E. Young Middle School in May 2016, a story that was widely reported in local media.
Stamps later pleaded guilty to charges related to the Isaac stabbing and was sentenced to two years of probation. The records were sealed due to his age. Stamps was expelled from school for 9th grade. He was reinstated at New Rochelle High School for 10th grade in September 2017.
Stamps was still serving his two-year probation on the 2016 case when, on January 18, 2018, Stamps stabbed a classmate in a classroom inside New Rochelle High School.
In the weeks leading up to the 2018 stabbing. Stamps was being sought in connection with a number of crimes including a strong-arm robbery (he allegedly stole another student’s Beats headphones but was not charged).
The 2018 stabbing by Stamps was part of a horrific week of violence involving New Rochelle High School students between January 10 and January 18, 2018. The violence brought massive media scrutiny and spawned the use of the hashtag #NewRoStrong as pushback against the negative media coverage of the student-on-student violence. Area school districts refused to send their students and staff to New Rochelle High School for competitions due to safety and security concerns.
Eight days earlier, on January 10, 2018, an altercation at the high school involving other students moved to North Avenue; a group of students stalked two other students, resulting in the stabbing death of Valaree Schwab by Z’inah Brown.
On January 17, the day of Brown’s arraignment on murder charges, a second violent altercation broke out a short distance from where the first one ended, at a pizzeria near the high school campus, sending one student to the hospital.
Bryan Stamps was assaulted and injured during the attack by several other students. New Rochelle Police recovered an edged-weapon from Stamps but he was not charged for weapons possession or violation of his probation.
The following day, January 18, Stamps stabbed a student in a classroom at the high school, seriously injuring the victim, Ethan Jordan.
That victim was taken to a hospital trauma unit, where he underwent surgery and was treated for life-threatening injuries. Ethan Jordan, the victim, never returned as a matriculated student to New Rochelle High School as a result of his injuries.
Jordan and his grandmother later successfully sued Stamps and the City School District of New Rochelle. Stamps never responded to the civil lawsuit.
The Jordans and the District reached an undisclosed settlement in late 2021 and filed a Stipulation of Discontinuance with Prejudice to the Westchester Supreme Court on November 23, 2021. The civil lawsuit formally ended on May 14, 2022.
The Jordans had sought up to $750,000 according to court records, but the settlement amount and terms of the agreement were subject to a confidentiality agreement required by the District as a condition of settlement.
Immediately after the stabbing, Stamps fled New Rochelle High School and disappeared. After close to four months, the FBI located Stamps hiding out with his grandfather in Gadsen, Alabama. He was taken into custody on May 14, 2018. He waived extradition to New York two days later. The Westchester County Police Warrants Squad picked him up in Alabama and returned him to Westchester County to stand trial.
Stamps’s family says he had moved on from the violent incidents in New Rochelle.
He grew from his experience and turned his life around, said Kandi Williams, BJ’s aunt. He had started a production agency and was filming videos.
Myra Stamps, BJ’s aunt, told The Gadsen Times, the local Gannett newspaper, that Stamps is “a good kid. He loves music and does beats for a lot of rappers. He’s got a good heart and gets along with everybody.”
Kiarra Watkins, BJ’s cousin and the person who reported him missing to police told the paper Stamps is “outgoing — doesn’t meet a stranger.”
Gadsen, Alabama is in Etowah County.
Last month, Bryan Stamps was arrested and charged with numerous crimes related to drugs, alcohol and a police pursuit. He was booked into the Etowah County on March 12
Arrest & Charges:
Bryan Stamps, 21, of Gadsen, Alabama
- Attempting To Elude a Police Officer
- Possession of Marijuana – 2
- D.U.I. (Alcohol)
- 3 x Running Stop Sign/Red Light
- No Proof Of Insurance
EDITOR’S NOTE: We have a call into the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office to obtain further details on the March 12 arrest.
Stamps was indicted by a Westchester County Grand Jury on April 16, 2018. He pleaded guilty to Assault in the First Degree, a class B felony, on October 4, 2018.
Stamps was sentenced on January 25, 2019, as a Juvenile Offender by Westchester County Court Judge Barry Warhit to one to three years in state prison for Assault in the First Degree, a class B felony.
Stamps was remanded to Warden Woodfield Detention Cottage in Valhalla, NY. The detention facility is associated with Rising Ground, formerly known as Leake and Watts Services.
EDITOR’S NOTE: As a Juvenile Offender, Stamps was never in the public online database used to track prisoners in New York State, so we were unable to track him when he entered or left prison. In 2022, we requested further information from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office including his booking date at a state prison, which state prison, whether he has been released from prison and when, conditions of release, probation status, any orders of protection. We will update this article with any additional information.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We have contacted the Gadsen PD twice requesting a statement and details of the investigation. Absent a response, we relied on details from reporting by Howard Koplowitz and William Thornton on AL.com linked below. Further details can be found in both articles.
UPDATE 4/13/23 9:25 AM:
RELATED:
Alabama Media Group (AL.com)
Body of missing Gadsden man Bryan Stamps found by fishermen near Coosa River, authorities say (4/12/23)
Search ongoing in Coosa River for missing Gadsden man, vehicle discovered on bridge (4/9/23)
Talk of the Sound
New Rochelle Middle School Student Stabbed (5/4/2016)
New Rochelle High School Student Stabbed Today by Student Assaulted at Pizza Place Yesterday (1/18/2018)
Six Long Island Schools Bail Out on New Rochelle High School Model Congress Event over Violence Concerns (2/16/2018)
New Rochelle High School Model Congress Tour Invite Gets No Takers from Long Island High Schools (2/26/2018)
Letter from the Students of New Rochelle Model Congress LIV Executive Board (3/31/2018)
FBI Arrests New Rochelle High School Student in Alabama for January Stabbing Incident (5/14/2018)
Bryan Stamps Chronology: What Really Happened on January 18 at New Rochelle High School? (5/22/2018)
New Rochelle High School Student Bryan Stamps Sentenced to Prison for Stabbing Of A Classmate (1/25/2019)
New Rochelle High School Stabbing Litigation Ends After 52 Months with Confidential Settlement (5/15/2022)