Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jerry Lewis was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted at trial for the murder of 15-year-old Nadine Slade, who was strangled to death in May 1992. The victim was found dead inside a bathroom her family shared with an adjacent unit at a multi-family home in Far Rockaway. The defendant was arrested in May 2023 after preserved DNA evidence was re-tested.

District Attorney Katz said: “Justice has finally been achieved for Nadine Slade, who was brutally killed 34 years ago at the hands of this defendant. New DNA testing, done at the request of my Cold Case Unit and the NYPD Cold Case Squad, provided a long-awaited break in the case and led to the apprehension of Jerry Lewis. Now convicted of murder, the defendant will serve 25 years to life in prison. We will not give up on our victims and we hope today’s sentencing bring a measure of comfort to Nadine’s loved ones.”

Lewis, 60, of Shawsville, Virginia, was convicted of murder in the second degree after a two-week trial last month before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder who sentenced him today to 25 years to life in prison.

DA Katz said that, according to the charges and trial testimony, on the morning of May 7, 1992, at approximately 9:30 a.m., the victim’s mother returned to their Far Rockaway apartment from her job as a school bus driver and discovered her 15-year-old daughter lying unconscious in the bathroom. The victim had a bra tied tightly around her neck. A can opener, which was found in the bathroom sink, was used to twist the bra strap tighter around Nadine’s neck.

At the time of the murder, investigators determined that the night before Nadine was found, the defendant was present with several other people inside the apartment directly adjacent to the one occupied by the victim and her mother. The bathroom was shared between the two units.

The defendant had no known prior affiliation with the victim or her mother.

An autopsy by the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) determined that Nadine died of asphyxia due to ligature strangulation. Other injuries that were present indicated a struggle took place at the scene and DNA evidence was collected from underneath the victim’s fingernails.

In 2022, DA Katz’s Cold Case Unit and the NYPD Cold Case Squad requested additional DNA testing by the OCME of the victim’s preserved fingernail clippings. A DNA profile was developed and linked to Lewis, who is a convicted sex offender.

Lewis was interviewed by detectives in March 2023 when he appeared for a scheduled parole visit. He was arrested on the murder charge on May 1, 2023.

Assistant District Attorney Karen L. Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief of the DA’s Homicide Bureau and Chief of the Cold Case Unit, prosecuted the case with assistance from Assistant District Attorney Jennie Evangelista under the supervision of John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.

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