John Minchillo/AP/Pool Photo
Conrado Juarez, 52, has been indicted in connection with the slaying of “Baby Hope,” his lawyer told the Daily News on Monday. The exact charge was not known.
Accused ‘Baby Hope’ killer Conrado Juarez has been indicted in connection with the notorious 1991 child slaying, his attorney confirmed Monday.
Juarez, a restaurant dishwasher, is due in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday to be formally notified that a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict him.
The exact charges won’t be revealed until a later date. Police charged Juarez with second-degree murder more than a week ago.
Juarez’s attorney, Michael Croce, said the indictment was anticipated, even though many questions in the case remain unanswered.
Juarez is the cousin of the slain “Baby Hope,” a 4-year-old named Anjelica Castillo. He was arrested Oct. 13 after he confessed to smothering the girl with a pillow to silence her screams as he was sexually assaulting her, police have said. He then said in a jailhouse interview that police coerced him into confessing, and that he only helped dispose of the girl’s body.
John Minchillo/AP
Juarez is the cousin of the slain “Baby Hope,” a 4-year-old named Anjelica Castillo. He was arrested Oct. 13 after he confessed to smothering the girl with a pillow to silence her screams as he was sexually assaulting her, police have said. He then said in a jailhouse interview that police coerced him into confessing, and that he only helped dispose of the girl’s body.
“This was not an unexpected event and I am waiting to hear whether or not there is any forensic evidence [linking Juarez to the killing], and I would like to see the statement he made to the police,” Croce said.
The lawyer has said that Juarez, who only speaks Spanish, was subjected by police to hours of interrogation that left him “sleep-deprived and exhausted” when he confessed on Saturday, Oct. 13.
“I understand that there is this alleged confession out there, but that means nothing to me given how long he’d been in custody being questioned by them,” Croce told the Daily News.
Police said Juarez confessed to smothering the 4 -year-old girl in an attempt at silencing her screams as he was sexually assaulting her in his sister’s apartment. The child was found stuffed inside an Igloo cooler that was discovered along the Henry Hudson Parkway in 1991.
In a jailhouse interview, Juarez claimed his confession was coerced. Police disputed that account, saying that a prosecutor was present during the interrogation and that parts of the proceeding were videotaped.
The diminutive accused killer, who is 5-foot-2 and 134 pounds, is being held without bail at Rikers Island.
Juarez, 52, was initially brought in for questioning on Oct. 12 after a tipster led detectives to Margarita Castillo, who was identified through DNA as the mother of Baby Hope — whose real name was Anjelica Castillo.
Margarita Castillo’s identity and that of her child were unknown for 22 years because she failed to come forward to report Anjelica missing. Castillo has said since investigators identified her that Anjelica and the girl’s sister were taken from her by their abusive father, who then abandoned them with Juarez’s sister in Astoria, Queens.
Time longer dan rope……….
I am glad there is no statue of limitation on murder
F**king animal and that dead sister is pure evil
How she did a live with herself yo
And dat careless mumma how ur pickney missing and u no go popo go report dat
She say di pupa was abusive and him tek the chil from her all the more reason fi APB that bitch when u no see u Pickney come back
SMMFH
Wow! What is done in the dark MUST come to light, oneday oneday! They were all down with it! Hopefully, they collected DNA & it’s been saved (since dem never have DNA testing back den)! I wonder how many other children that pervert touch in these past 20+ years?!?!?