NYC woman murdered 33 years ago finally IDd as missing mom with advanced DNA testing: DA

A woman who was murdered by a group of men in Queens more than three decades ago has finally been identified – through advanced DNA testing – as a mom who went missing soon after celebrating her daughter’s first birthday, prosecutors said.Judy Rodriguez was 30 when her family reported her missing on January 23, 1991, a short time after her daughter Stephanie’s first birthday party. Several months later, on Aug.25, 1991, an unidentified woman’s body was found hidden under a large wooden board – with a cord binding her ankles – in a grassy area where the Cross Island and Southern State parkways meet, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office. An in-depth DNA analysis revealed — 33 years later — that Rodriguez was in fact the victim of the gruesome slaying. “It really is heartwarming to have answers,” Anna Salvadore, Rodriguez’s sister, told NBC 4 New York.The investigation revealed that four men approached Rodriguez sometime between July 15 and Aug.

15, and took her on a nightmarish drive where two of them tied her up, according to the DA’s office. They drove her to the drop-off spot – pushing her out of the car, where one of the brutes struck her on the head with a large metal flashlight, prosecutors said. The blow caused her death, according to prosecutors, who said that the violent foursome then drove away.The crew returned to the scene about two weeks later, and attempted to conceal the body by covering their victim with a large wooden board, the DA’s office charged. Four men – two 20-year-olds and the others ages 18 and 19 at the time of the killing – were arrested and charged in August and September of that same year, prosecutors said.One of them pleaded guilty in September of 1992 to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in jail. He was cut loose in 2009 on parole, which discharged him in August of 2016.Two others pleaded guilty in October 1992 to first-degree reckless endangerment ...