Posted on 05/04/2005 10:36:52 AM PDT by chris1
Murder suspect living in U.S. illegally, police say
By STEVE LIEBERMAN slieberm@thejournalnews.com THE JOURNAL NEWS
Age: 29.
Education: High school graduate from Quesada, Guatemala.
? October 2000: Entered the United States legally on a tourist visa, which allowed him to stay for six months. He overstayed the visa.
? Came to Rockland from California within the past three years.
? July 2002: Charged with misdemeanor assault in Ramapo, under the name Ronald Douglas. He was accused of beating his girlfriend.
? September 2002: Justice Court warrant issued for his arrest when he missed a court date.
? 2005: Worked steadily for another contractor before joining Coloron Painting of New Jersey a month ago.
(Original publication: May 4, 2005)
A Guatemalan citizen charged with murdering a New City mother had lived in the United States illegally since 2001, when he overstayed his six-month tourist visa, Clarkstown police said yesterday.
Detectives confirmed the identity yesterday of Ronald Douglas Herrera Castellanos, 29, accused of Friday's slaying of Mary Nagle, 42. Police received the identification information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Herrera has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in Nagle's slaying.
Herrera entered the United States in October 2000 on a tourist visa, which allowed him to stay for six months before he would have to return to Guatemala, Detective Lt. Charles Delo of the Clarkstown police said yesterday.
The suspect's visa didn't expire until October 2010, which meant he could have returned to the United States at any time until then.
Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, said it was common for people to overstay their visas, probably accounting for a good portion of the estimated 8 million to 12 million people living illegally in the United States.
"If you can get a multi-entry visa to enter the country for six months and even ask for an extension, why would you enter the country illegally?" Saucier said. "If someone doesn't leave within six months, they are in violation of the terms of the visa."
Herrera's legal status in the United States is secondary to the slaying, Delo said.
"His legality in the country is not an issue in this case," Delo said. "Getting the suspect caught and seeing that justice is done is our concern."
Other officers found Nagle's cell phone and wallet yesterday in the woods behind Georgetown Oval, about a mile from the Nagles' Tamarac Avenue house.
During a nearly four-hour police manhunt Friday, 51 calls were made from Nagle's cell phone to her friends and family by a caller scrolling through the telephone numbers stored in the phone's memory. The caller threatened some with death and told others lurid details about raping Nagle, Delo said.
Herrera is being held in the county jail without bail. A grand jury will hear the case tomorrow for a possible indictment.
Yesterday, police again scoured the banks of Lake DeForest and the grounds along the Reservoir Drive area for a black plastic garbage bag that Herrera was seen carrying from Nagle's property.
Police said they believe the bag contained bloodstained clothes worn by the person who strangled, beat, stabbed and raped Nagle inside her house. When arrested, police said, Herrera was wearing clothes owned by Nagle's husband, Daniel, 41, a Manhattan accountant.
"We don't know if he buried the bag or threw it into the water," Delo said. "We were out on a boat about 80 feet, and the water was crystal clear. We'll go up again in the helicopter."
Nagle, the mother of two elementary school children, was home alone Friday, preparing for a tennis game with her sister, Ann Fallon.
For the past month, Herrera had worked for Coloron Painting of New Jersey. He had driven to the Nagles between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. Friday to power-wash the Nagles' back porch.
Police said Fallon and Nagle were talking on the telephone at 8:50 a.m. when Nagle told her a worker wanted to speak with her.
Herrera is accused of entering the house through the back door and killing Nagle in her upstairs bedroom as she tried to fight him off, police said. All other doors to the house were locked, Delo said.
Coloron's owner drove up at 9:20 a.m. and when he didn't see Herrera, he power-washed the porch and left, taking the keys to the company truck in the Nagles' driveway.
When her sister didn't call back, Fallon drove to the house at 10:20 a.m. and saw Herrera outside, police said. When Fallon questioned him about her sister's whereabouts, he gave vague answers, claimed not to speak English well and left carrying a black plastic bag.
Fallon then went inside and saw a trail of blood upstairs and her sister on the bed, partially clothed with her tank top pulled up across her chest.
Nagle's slaying has had a chilling effect on the hiring of immigrant workers for landscaping, house repairs and maintenance.
Pedro Velasquez, a Guatemalan day laborer, and a number of other men said about 11:30 a.m. yesterday that they normally would have been picked up for work by contractors by about 11 a.m. They said this had been the situation since the weekend and attributed the lack of work to fear rising from Nagle's killing.
"It hurts us all," Velasquez said, standing with more than two dozen men on Spring Valley's Maple Avenue.
Leaders of the Jornaleros Project, an immigrant advocacy and assistance group, remained hopeful that Rockland residents would not turn their backs on day laborers.
The Rev. Angela Boatright of the Jornaleros Project said she hoped the tragedy would not prejudice residents against immigrant workers, though she understood the trust had been damaged.
"We regularly open our doors to workers ? handymen, painters, meter readers, food deliverers and the like ? and our trust in them is seldom violated," Boatright said.
"There is no race, class, or ethnic group that is exempt from the temptation to take a life," she said. "But for every horror committed and drilled into our memories, there also are dozens of acts of kindness. ... We must not lose our perspective. And, most of all, we must not fear each other."
Herrera, a high school graduate from Quesada, Guatemala, had worked steadily for another contractor before joining Coloron Painting, a Park Ridge, N.J.-based company that had worked for the Nagles and other Rockland families for more than 10 years.
Herrera came to Rockland from California within the past three years. In July 2002, he was charged with a misdemeanor assault in Ramapo, under the name Ronald Douglas, after he was accused of beating his girlfriend. A Justice Court warrant was issued for his arrest in September 2002 when he missed a court date.
When police arrested Herrera on Friday, his California driver's license gave the name Douglas Martin Herrera, 39.
Delo said the real Douglas Martin Herrera lived in San Francisco, and police there had spoken to him on Monday. He told police he didn't know the suspect or that his information was being used
Just another example of our wonderful immigration policy. Viva La Bush.
Deport him now!
Look at the stupid Cop's attitude in this case. If this illegal alien was deported the first time he was charged with assault, this person would never have been murdered.
maybe people will think twice about opening their homes to day laborers.
Some lunatics will insist that this animal can be rehabilitated
But they only come here to do 'jobs' American criminals won't do!
Of course, if his legality ever had been an issue, there wouldn't have been a case, since he wouldn't have been able to remain here to commit murder.
I am not a racist, I am a realist.
I live in Yonkers, NY, near Rockland County. These people need to be deported now!
Bush has lost all credibility with me over this issue as have all of our pols who refuse to deal with this.
The article clearly showed that this animal had a criminal record and they did not deport him at that time.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
You guys bore me.
The underground network of the illegals allows these murderers to move through this country easily. Their whole infrastructure is built upon phoney documents and cash. A criminals dream.
Why is that????????
Would you prefer that these cases not be brought to light?
There is a rumble growing louder and louder that is going to erupt is these politicians, cops, and law enforcement refuse to do their jobs!
If they deported him wouldn't he just have snuck back in? Not that I'm against doing it, but it seems almost useless in light of how easy it is for them to come back.
susie
ping
had worked steadily for another contractor before joining Coloron Painting, a Park Ridge, N.J.-based company
I hope some slick fast talking LAWYER gets a hint and goes for the EMPLOYERES ... one good hit and the bottom would fall out for the illegal market.
After all they did aid and enable the criminal to be here. I say go for the throat.
ping
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