DNA Cracks 2009 Rape and Murder of 23-year-old Fashion Student found Strangled to Death in Bed by her Mother
By Daily Mail, September 2013
Cold case: DNA linked José Martinez to the 2009 murder of Carmen Saldana, who he is accused of strangling
Police have arrested a homeless man in connection with the 2009 murder of a fashion student who was found dead in bed by her mother, it emerged today.
Jose Martinez, 30, was arrested on Wednesday on charges of kidnapping, murder, predatory sexual assault, burglary and other crimes in relation to the death of Carmen Saldana, 23.
Martinez allegedly followed Carmen home from a party in Long Island City to her Queens home.
He allegedly forced his way into her apartment, sexually assaulted her and strangled her on July 12, 2009. She was found naked in bed by her mother.
Martinez, who has been serving time for robbery, was connected to the crime through DNA evidence, according to a law-enforcement source.
Martinez confessed to police that he choked Carmen to death.
He told police he ran into her when she was on her way home from a party and he wanted to make sure she got home OK because she was drunk.
Police sources told the Daily News that when they got back to her apartment, she resisted his advances and he forced his way in and attacked her, putting one hand around her throat and another over her mouth.
Her mother Susana Saldana, 57, told the Daily News about his arrest: 'I hope justice is served to this animal. He destroyed my life. I want him to pay for what he did.'
Victim: Carmen was at a party in Long Island City when she was followed back to her Queens home by Martinez,
police said, who forced his way into her home when she resisted his advances
Carmen's body is taken from her Queens home on July 12, 2009, left,
and her father Gilberto Saldana, right, reacts to the news of his 23-year-old daughter's death
Devastated: Mother Susana Saldana found Carmen dead in her bed when she came back from her cleaning job in the Hamptons
She said she had just come home from her cleaning job in the Hamptons and thought her daughter was asleep on the bed.
'I said, "Carmen, you fell asleep",' the mother recalled. 'I raised the blanket and my little girl was dead.'
Martinez was arrested on September 30, 2011, after assaulting a taxi driver and carjacking his cab at LaGuardia airport.
He was convicted of reckless endangerment and sentenced in April 2012 to one to three years in prison.
A DNA sample from this case was linked to Carmen's murder scene.
There has been some speculation over Martinez's real age as he originally told police he was born in 1993, instead of 1983. Some media outlets have reported he is now 20 and was just a teenager at the time of Carmen's murder.
A source said authorities are convinced he was 25 at the time, but that it is likely to be made an issue leading up to the trial.
DNA Cracks Raped Student Case- Found Strangled to Death by Mother
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