Dora Delvalle Almontaser was solely 19 years previous when she was sexually assaulted after which strangled to loss of life with a phone wire whereas house-sitting for her uncle in the Bronx again in December 2000. Now, greater than 22 years later, the case has been closed with a plea deal.
During the unique investigation, police retrieved fluids and a lone fingerprint from the nude sufferer and the crime scene, respectively. At the time, no matches for both might be discovered, however police created a “John Doe” profile based mostly on the presumed killer’s DNA.
At the time of her loss of life, Almontaser was dwelling together with her husband; she had been watching her uncle’s condo whereas he recovered in the hospital. The deceased lady was remembered as bold by her household, in response to The New York Times.
Five years later, 25-year-old Angel Serbay, a Yonkers mom, was discovered raped, overwhelmed, and strangled. Her physique had been wrapped in a blanket and dumped on the facet of the Sprain Brook Parkway, a state highway, in Westchester County. Again, fluid was recovered from the sufferer. The DNA proof from Serbay matched the proof discovered in Almontaser’s physique. Still no matches got here up for a named suspect.
“Angel was a lost soul,” her mom, Susan Serbay, instructed The Journal News in 2006. ” That’s the easiest way to explain her. She was an excellent particular person. She was simply misplaced, looking for one thing. We miss her. We miss what might have been for her.”
Both instances would go chilly in their very own time.
In November 2017, Christopher Gonzalez, 41, was arrested after a Bronx detective re-opened Almontaser’s case and re-ran the fingerprint, in response to Manhattan-based CW flagship station WPIX. This time, the fingerprint was a match for a married man and Toys”R”Us worker who had been arrested simply eight months earlier than by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office for driving with no license.
Gonzalez reportedly paid $500 bond and was shortly again residence in Naples, Florida after his site visitors violation; however detectives with the New York State Police and the NYPD had been quickly knocking on his door.
He was first arrested and charged with Almontaser’s homicide by New York City authorities whereas the second homicide investigation continued. In May 2019, Gonzalez was indicted in Westchester County for Serbay’s homicide – on two counts of homicide in the primary diploma, three counts of homicide in the second diploma, and one depend every of rape in the primary diploma, and prison sexual act in the primary diploma.
While in the Empire State, Gonzalez lived mere blocks away from every of the ladies he finally raped and killed, WPIX reported, citing an nameless “law enforcement source.”
He pleaded not responsible to the costs and maintained his innocence for years. Days earlier than Christmas, the defendant had a change of coronary heart.
On Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, Gonzalez admitted to committing each brutal crimes. In trade for his plea on two homicide fees, he acquired two concurrent sentences of 20 years to life in jail, in response to a courtroom report by The New York Daily News.
“Oh, it was a miracle!” Dora DelValle, Almontaser’s mom mentioned, in feedback reported by the paper. “Finally, he decided to plead guilty! … I pray day and night, and finally God heard my prayers.”
“We’ve been waiting 22 years for this to be over and finally, hopefully, it’s going to be closed,” Almontaser’s sister Brisaid Santos, who was simply a teen on the time of the slaying instructed the Daily News. “It’s not easy. It’s hard. It’s horrible. He’s a killer. That’s what he is.”
[image via Collier County Sheriff’s Office]
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