ARTICLE
From USA Today
Homeless man charged in N.Y. Christmas Eve killing
SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — A 43-year-old
homeless man was arrested Friday on charges of raping and murdering a
55-year-old woman who cared for a blind man at the Lakeview Village housing
complex where she lived.Spring Valley police said Juan Perez-Coira Jr. knew
Deborah Burns from the housing complex where both of their families lived.
Perez-Coira and Burns met on Christmas Eve and walked to a multifamily
house where Burns was found dead, Detective Sgt. James Noble said. She was killed about 7:30 p.m.
"They knew one
another," Noble said. "We don't know the extent of their
relationship. He apparently didn't know her last name. They met up on Christmas
Eve and he ended up taking her to 16 Lafayette St., where the rape and
subsequent murder took place outside at the garage."
Saul Navarro, a longtime
village resident who lives at 16 Lafayette St. and knows Perez-Coira, told
police he witnessed the killing.
According to a statement
read at Perez-Coira's arraignment, Navarro told officers he saw Perez-Coira
rape the victim, put his hands around her neck and choke her until she was
unconscious.
Noble said the incident
was not reported as a rape or murder and that police found Burns after she had
been reported missing.
On Friday morning, blood
could be seen on a white headboard just outside the garage.
The building's porch had
yellow police tape around it, and tape also had been stretched across the
intersection of Lafayette and White streets. Lafayette Street is a small block
off Clinton Street and Bethune Boulevard in the Hill section of the village.
Navarro told The Journal
News that Perez-Coira showed up from time to time at the Lafayette Street house
to cook dinner, drink beer and keep warm. He said he would see Burns on the
porch at the house occasionally as well.
"It's a shame this
kind of stuff happens," Navarro said. "Who knows a killer? I'm blown
away by this."
Police charged
Perez-Coira with second-degree murder, first-degree rape and first-degree
criminal sex act. The murder charge carries a prison sentence from 15 to 25
years to life.
Village Justice Djinsad
Desir ordered Perez-Coira held without bail in the county jail after the
morning arraignment. The muscular suspect appeared in court with his hands
cuffed behind his back, dressed in a red shirt and blue jeans.
The judge said
Perez-Coira would be assigned a public defender and adjourned the case until
Jan. 2 for a preliminary felony hearing, although a grand jury is expected to
hear the evidence next week. An indictment would cancel the felony hearing and
move the case to City Court in New City.
Toxicology tests were
done on both Perez-Coira and Burns.
The Rockland Medical
Examiner's Office conducted an autopsy, but Burns' official cause of death and
other information will not be released until after next week's grand jury
review of the case, Noble said.
Noble said the
investigation leading to Perez-Coira's arrest took some time after Burns' body
was found.
"We've been working
17-18 straight hours" leading up to the arrest, Noble said.
No one answered the door
at Perez-Coira's mother's Lakeview Village apartment on Friday afternoon.
John King, who takes
care of an elderly woman at the complex, was saddened by Burns' death.
"I'm upset the girl is gone," he said.
The homicide is the fifth in Rockland this year and the second in Spring
Valley, where police recently charged a mother with murder in the strangulation
death of her newborn son.
Comment
Some days ago, I was reading
the USA Today newspaper when I came across this astonishing article titled:
“Homeless man charged in N.Y. Christmas Eve killing”.
It explains how a 43-year-old man, Juan
Perez-Coira Jr., rapes and kills a woman, Deborah Burns, on Christmas Eve.
Apparently Perez-Coira took her to 16 Lafayette St, there, concretely in his
garage, the murder took place.
Some neighbours
witnessed the homicide and know with detail how Perez-Coira did it. They are
still appalled by the terrible news.
After arrested, the
criminal was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree rape and
first-degree criminal sex act, which carries a prison sentence from 15 to 25
years to life.
As it is of concern, the
case will be move to City Court in New City. There he will be assigned a public
defender and will be judge by a grand jury. As a result, he will not have many
opportunities to win the trial.
Most people agree that,
increasingly, we are more accustomed to hearing news like this in the USA.
Every now and again there is an imposing murder, an important rape… but apart
from getting upset, the government does not do anything.
There are huge problems in
the country that need to be sorted out, but nobody seems to do it. It is
believed that politicians should be more aware about the needs of the people.
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