TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2005

D.A. BROWN: QUEENS MAN ARRAIGNED ON CHARGES OF MURDER OF HIS EX-GIRLFRIEND AND ABANDONMENT OF HER 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
Held Without Bail; Faces Life in Prison

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that Cesar Ascarrunz has been arraigned on an indictment charging him 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.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Cesar Ascarrunz, 32, of 111-17 66 Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, a Queens building porter. The defendant has been charged in a seven-count indictment 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. He faces up to 30 years to life in prison if convicted.

The District Attorney said that the indictment charges that between September 24 and 25, 2005 in the defendant’s residence at 111-17 66 Avenue in Forest Hills, the defendant murdered Monica Lozada, 26, placed her body in a black plastic garbage and thereafter left 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, crying and alone, by the defendant 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.

District Attorney Brown said that the defendant was arraigned earlier today before Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Hanophy who remanded him without bail and set a return date of January 5, 2006.

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 Attorney 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.