For years, he lived outside, sleeping in a small alcove in a storefront on the southern end of the Bowery. For meals, he often ate at modest restaurants in the neighborhood , always ordering inexpensive, filling meals — a pork chop or roast duck over rice.

People tried to get to know him: an 83-year-old homeless man that some residents of Chinatown knew as Uncle Kwok. But he kept to himself, they said, never wanting to talk about what landed him on the streets.

Uncle Kwok, whose given name was Chuen Kwok, was bludgeoned to death on Saturday as he slept in the familiar alcove where he had sought a degree of security. He was among four homeless men beaten to death with a three-foot, 15-pound metal bar in attacks that took place just after 1:30 a.m. on a chilly night.

Randy Rodriguez Santos, a homeless 24-year-old man with a history of violence, was arrested two blocks away and charged with their murders.