MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2005

D.A. BROWN: INDICTMENT FILED CHARGING EX-BOYFRIEND IN MURDER OF FOREST HILLS WOMAN AND ABANDONMENT OF HER 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
Defendant Faces Life in Prison

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the filing of a multiple-count indictment charging Cesar Ascarrunz, 32, of 111-17 66th Avenue, Forest Hills, with the murder of his former girlfriend, Monica Lozada, and the abandonment of her 4-year-old daughter, Valery, in the middle of the night on a dark street in Middle Village, Queens.

District Attorney Brown said, “This is a terribly sad and tragic case – not only in terms of the violent death of Monica Lozada but also in terms of that which occurred with respect to her 4-year-old daughter, Valery. The child was abandoned in the middle of the night on a darkened residential street shivering and without shoes. She could easily have wandered into the roadway and been hit by a car and suffered serious injury or even death. Fortunately, she was taken in by a neighborhood resident who called the police. The child has captured the hearts of all New Yorkers. Hopefully, she will be able to survive the emotional trauma of that which has occurred and grow up to lead a normal life.”

The District Attorney said that a Queens County grand jury has returned a seven-count indictment charging the defendant with two counts of Murder in the Second Degree, one count of Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree, two counts of Tampering with Physical Evidence, one count of Abandonment of a Child and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. The defendant will be arraigned on the indictment in Queens Supreme Court on December 13, 2005. He faces up to 25 years to life on the murder charges, up to seven years on the endangering charges and up to four years on the tampering charge.

According to District Attorney Brown, the defendant, who is presently being held without bail, is accused of murdering Ms. Lozada, placing her body in a black plastic garbage and thereafter leaving it on a Forest Hills street. The body was later recovered in a Pennsylvania garbage dump. Ms. Lozada’s four-year-old child, it is alleged, was abandoned by the defendant, crying and alone, on a darkened street in the Middle Village section of Queens.

District Attorney Brown stated that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has concluded that Ms. Lozada died as a result of homicidal violence.

Assistant District Attorney Madeline Singas Deputy Bureau Chief of the District Attorney's Domestic Violence Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Scott E. Kessler, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.

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