You are reading

Corona Man Who Strangled Woman To Death As A Teen Gets 14 Years To Life In Prison

gavel3March 16, 2016 Staff Report

A Corona man was sentenced to 14 years to life in prison for the murder of a young woman he pursued on the street and strangled to death in 2009, when he was 15 years old, according to the Queens District Attorney.

Jose Martinez, 22, whose last known address was on Northern Boulevard in Corona, pleaded guilty to second degree murder in December.

According to District Attorney Richard Brown, Martinez admitted to killing 23-year-old Carmen Saldana on July 12, 2009. Martinez had been riding a bike in Astoria when he encountered her on the sidewalk and followed her to the Astoria apartment she shared with her mother.

After Saldana rushed inside the apartment and locked herself in, Martinez kicked in the door and entered. A physical altercation ensued that ended with Martinez choking her to death with his hands.

“This was a senseless and brutal crime – made all the more unfathomable because the defendant was just 15 years old at the time,” Brown said in a statement. “A young woman’s life was tragically cut short and the defendant, now an adult, will spend a lengthy term behind bars to protect society.”

Martinez’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Hollis man charged with raping 14-year-old told teen, ‘I can help you get work’

New details have emerged in the case of the Hollis man accused luring a 14-year-old boy into his car in St. Albans and then allegedly raping him on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 1.

Virgilio Taveras, 63, of Hillside Avenue, was arrested by detectives from the Queens Special Victims Squad two days later and booked at the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows. Taveras was arraigned on the Fourth of July in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with rape in the second degree, luring a child as an E felony, endangering the welfare of a child and other related crimes.

Man in his 50s sought for exposing himself to 13-year-old on E train in Forest Hills: NYPD

Police from the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills and Transit District 20 are looking for a suspect who allegedly flashed a 13-year-old girl on a Queens subway train last month.

The victim was riding a southbound E train approaching the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station at around 1 p.m. on Monday, June 30, when she saw a stranger exposing himself to her, police said Wednesday. The perpetrator ran off the train at the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station and fled in an unknown direction. The youngster was not injured during her encounter with the stranger.