According to reports, the man, Nubian Knight, ran a porn site from his Bedford-Stuyvesant home. He was found with severe head injuries and had also been mutilated by his assailant.
Police reports say there was no sign of a struggle and that at some point during the beating Knight's throat had been slashed.
Police are speculating that Knight's death was an "Internet sex romp gone awry" and that his killer might have been someone he met in a chat room.
Knight reportedly named himself after a comic book hero based on the tale of a South African man who was endowed with super powers, the Daily News reported. His real name, according to his sister, was Tyrone Alston.
Alston was reportedly the father of an eight-year-old girl who lives with her mother.
Police have not yet been able to determine whether Alston's Internet porn affiliations contributed to his death, although many of his neighbors testified that he had many strangers come and go from his apartment at all hours of the night.
Alston reportedly used the web name of "Mr. Nubian Knight" and routinely searched porn sites and chat rooms looking for "big booty, male or female," the Post reported.
Alston had been employed by the Kings County Hospital since 1990, and it was not until he went missing for several days immediately following pay day that family and friends began to wonder where he was.
According to a co-worker, Alston never reported back to work for his midnight shift the next day. There is some suggestion that Alston's death might have been over money, but police are actively investigating Alston's underworld gay porn connections for an answer to his death.
No arrests have yet been made.
"He was a happy-go-lucky, jovial individual," his sister told the Daily News.