Thursday, February 24, 2005

CHARGES FILED IN FATAL SHOOTING OF FRANKLIN SQUARE MOTHER WHOSE BODY -- WITH SINGLE GUNSHOT WOUND TO HEAD -- WAS FOUND IN TRUNK OF CAR IN JAMAICA, QUEENS

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a Levittown man has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a young Franklin Square, Long Island mother whose lifeless body -- with a single gunshot wound to the head -- was found Tuesday night by police in the trunk of her automobile that was parked in Jamaica, Queens.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant has been charged with fatally shooting the victim once in the head with an illegal handgun, causing her death. The charges are the result of an intensive joint investigation by the New York City and Nassau County Police Departments in conjunction with my Homicide Investigations Bureau. They will be vigorously prosecuted.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Steven Schiovone, 35, of 104 Harvest Lane in Levittown, a warehouse manager. The defendant has been charged with both Intentional and Depraved Indifference Murder and Criminal Possession of a Weapon and faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

District Attorney Brown said that, according to the charges, the defendant on February 21, 2005 shot the victim, Susan Ambrosino, 26, who was four months pregnant and the mother of an eight-year-old daughter, once in the left side of her head in the front seat of her red Nissan Altima and placed her lifeless body in the car trunk and left the scene.

According to the District Attorney, a passerby found a purse on the sidewalk near the victim’s car -- which was parked at 178th Street and Jamaica Avenue -- checked the purse for identification and phoned the Nassau County Police Department. The Nassau County Police had already initiated an investigation into the victim’s disappearance after her family had reported her missing early Tuesday when she failed to return home.

District Attorney Brown said that Nassau County Police on Wednesday apprehended the defendant on charges of driving without a seatbelt and with a suspended registration and license. The District Attorney said that the defendant is expected to be arraigned in Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens later tonight or tomorrow.

The investigation was conducted by New York City Police Department Detectives Christopher Bollerman and Kevin Stocker of the 103rd Precinct Detective Squad under the supervision of Lieutenant Patrick Wing and Detectives John Collins and John Warner of the Queens Homicide Task Force under the supervision of Lieutenant Richard Bellucci and Nassau County Police Department Lieutenant Dennis Farrell of the Homicide Squad and Detective Albert Brandel of the Missing Persons Squad.

Assistant District Attorney Vance T. Kuhner of the District Attorney's Homicide Investigations Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter T. Reese, Bureau Chief, Peter J. McCormack III, Deputy Bureau Chief, and Richard B. Schaeffer, Senior Trial Attorney, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A Saunders.

It should be noted that criminal charges are merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.