A Westchester County man has been nabbed in the 1999 murder of a Bronx teen — putting the 22-year-old cold case to rest, police sources told The Post.
Joseph Martinez is walked from the 49th Precinct in the Bronx, Monday, Nov. 29, 2021. Ellis KaplanJoseph Martinez, 49, of New Rochelle, was charged Monday with two counts of second-degree murder in the February 1999 slaying of 13-year-old Minerliz Soriano.
Martinez did not respond to reporters’ questions as he was led out of the 49th Precinct station house in the Bronx Monday night, visibly limping.
Luis Soriano with a police poster of his daughter Minerliz, 13, who was found strangled and dumped in a dumpster in Co-Op city. New York Post/Bolivar Arellano“DNA became integral and led to the identification of a witness,” one police source said. “Now he faces two counts of murder.”
Police said a press conference on the case will be held on Tuesday.
The girl’s body was bound and stuffed into a plastic bag, then tossed into a garbage dumpster at 2087 Bartow Avenue, the sources said.
Joseph Martinez of New Rochelle was charged with the 1999 murder of Minerliz Soriano.
The young victim was walking home from IS 135 on Wallace Avenue around 2:20 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1999, when she disappeared.
Her body was found four days later when investigators determine she had been strangled and thrown into the dumpster at Co-op City.
Minerliz’s father Luis Soriano at her funeral in Brooklyn. New York Post/Jim AlcornThe girl’s vicious slaying remained a cold case until detectives used DNA evidence to link her disappearance to Martinez, who lived in the same building as her family, sources said.
Additional reporting by Steven Vago and Larry Celona
