For killing a Bronx woman in 2000, a Florida man received a lengthy prison term, according to the Bronx District Attorney's Office.
According to Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, 41-year-old Christopher Gonzalez of Naples, Florida, was given a sentence of 20 years to life in prison on Friday. On December 21, 2022, he initially entered a plea of guilty to second-degree murder.
Dora Del Valle, 19, was house-sitting for her uncle, who was hospitalized at the time, on December 2, 2000, inside an apartment building on East 180th Street, according to the district attorney's office, citing the investigation.
Gonzalez, who lived a few blocks away from Del Valle, strangled her with a phone wire at that precise moment, killing her. Later that day, the family of the young woman, who had been raped, discovered her body.
Gonzalez was identified in 2017 based on a fingerprint and considerable DNA evidence gathered at the crime site, according to the district attorney's office. The DNA match also connected Gonzalez to a 2005 cold case murder in Westchester County, according to the prosecution.
The District Attorney Thanked Retired NYPD Detectives
Christine Scaccia, head of the homicide bureau, prosecuted the case under the direction of Theresa Gottlieb, head of the trial division, and James Brennan, deputy head of the trial division.
Clark expressed his gratitude to crime victims assistance bureau advocate Ana Pimentel for her support of the case.
The district attorney also expressed gratitude to retired NYPD detectives Malcolm Reiman and Matt McCrosson of the Bronx homicide unit, retired detective Arthur Connelly of the NYPD latent print section, retired detective Eugene Donnelly of the New York State Police major crimes unit, and retired detective Kevin O'Neill of the Collier County Sheriff's Office.
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