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The case of a rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl that has been cold for nearly 17 years was solved this week thanks to DNA evidence, police said.
On Oct. 2, 1996, officers found 17-year-old Anjeanette Maldonado dead on Hope Street near Cecil B. Moore Avenue in North Philadelphia. Her murder remained unsolved until Monday, when police say a DNA sample obtained during the investigation and entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Combined DNA Index System came up as a match to a convicted man in Florida.
Rafael Crespo, 46, whose DNA matched that found at the crime scene where the teen’s body was found, was charged Monday with murder, rape, sexual assault and related offenses in the nearly two-decade-old case, police said.
A 26-year-old man is in critical condition after he was shot three times on a West Philadelphia street Tuesday afternoon.
Police said the victim was on Arch Street near 57th shortly before 3:30 p.m. when someone opened fire on him, striking him once in the left thigh, once in the right thigh and once in the back of the right leg.
He was rushed by police to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he remains in critical condition.
A crew of low-custody prison inmates cleaning trash from a New Jersey highway this morning made a discovery that might have spurred more hardened prisoners to plot an escape: A discarded handgun.
These inmates instead alerted a supervisor after their 10:30 a.m. find on Interstate 195 in Jackson Township, and the supervisor called in state troopers, who confirmed the object was indeed an abandoned handgun, said Lt. Stephen Jones, a New Jersey State Police spokesman. The troopers cordoned off the scene to investigate and turned the weapon over to firearm experts to trace, Jones added. Jones had no details on how many inmates were involved in the litter patrol, nor in which prison they're housed.
"Unusual items are not unusual to find, but a gun is fairly unusual," Jones said.
This post has been updated.
An argument between a North Philadelphia man and his stepbrother ended in gunfire Monday afternoon, police said.
Cops said the victim, 37, and his 27-year-old stepbrother were fighting inside a house where they both live on 9th Street near York. The 27-year-old then pulled a gun and shot his stepbrother twice in the back, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
Police have identified two people in Sunday night's domestic murder-suicide in a Spring Garden luxury high-rise as married couple Rio Acosta Magden, 29, and Carlos Eugene Acosta, 30.
Detectives believe Acosta shot Magden repeatedly in the head and body before shooting himself in the Museum Towers on 18th Street near Spring Garden, police spokeswoman Officer Christine O'Brien said. Police say both were found in the apartment's front bedroom. The shooting occurred about 8:20 p.m.
Here is initial story filed Sunday by Daily News Staff Writer William Bender:
A Kensington man who claimed he accidentally shot his girlfriend Saturday night when he pulled a gun on a neighbor during a fight has been charged with murder.
Kuldio Singh, 28, of East Seltzer Street near A, was arrested after the 7:49 p.m. incident, police spokeswoman Officer Christine O'Brien said. He told police he was arguing with a neighbor and pulled a gun; his girlfriend Sherell Baker, 26, of the same address, intervened to calm the men down, but instead, she caught a bullet in the upper chest, O'Brien said. She died at Episcopal Hospital a half hour later.
The neighbor fled; it was unclear if he was armed.
Police are investigating the murder of a 20-year-old man who was shot to death on a street corner in Kingsessing early Friday afternoon.
The victim was on Regent Street near 55th shortly after noon when someone shot him several times in the upper torso and head, a police spokeswoman said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:17 p.m.
So far, police have no motive or suspects in the fatal shooting. The man is the 51st person slain in Philadelphia so far in 2013, compared with 84 murder victims as of the same date last year.
A man and a woman were in critical condition early Friday morning after police say they were both shot in South Philadelphia late Thursday night.
Shortly before 11:30 p.m., police on patrol heard gunshots in the area of 7th and McKean streets and arrived at the intersection to find both victims lying on the ground, each suffering from at least two gunshot wounds, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
The woman, 22, was shot in the thighs and buttocks, and the 23-year-old man suffered two gunshot wounds to the head, Small said.
A police officer responding to a call in South Philadelphia arrived at 10th and Mifflin streets to find a man stabbing two other men at the corner.
When the officer pulled up shortly after 10 p.m. and exited his car and ordered the 23-year-old suspect several times to drop the 8-inch knife he was holding, the suspect continued to stab the other men, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
The cop then shot the suspect, hitting him in the torso and leg, Small said. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in stable condition.
A 40-year-old man remained in critical condition Thursday night after he was shot twice on a pedestrian bridge in North Philadelphia.
Police said the man was on the bridge over the railroad tracks near Lawrence and Westmoreland streets just before 4 p.m. when someone shot him once in the head and once in the back.
He was rushed to Temple University Hospital and listed in critical condition.
