Ma thanks God for bust in son’s 2010 stab slay
A heartbroken mother’s faith was rewarded when a 12-year-old DNA sample produced a long-delayed arrest in the East Harlem street stabbing of her only son.
Accused killer Paul Corona, now the 29-year-old father of two, was just a teen when he twice plunged a steak knife into the chest of Adan Gonzalez (above) during the early morning hours of Feb. 6, 2010, officials said.
“I said, ‘God, thank you for everything, for making this happen.’ ” the victim’s mother Alicia Gonzalez told the Daily News on Saturday. “I always had faith that they would find my son’s killer, of course ... It’s been very difficult, but I feel like there’s some closure now.”
Corona, just 17 at the time of the homicide, was eventually linked to DNA left at the scene and on the handle of the knife used to kill Gonzalez as the victim walked home after a night of salsa dancing at a local club.
The corpse of the 28-year-old victim, his wallet missing, was discovered at E. 115th St. and Second Ave. around 6:30 a.m. the day he died.
The long-sought suspect moved about a year ago into a Borough Park apartment building.
The super described the accused killer as a good neighbor who lived with a woman and two children.
“You look like an angel, but then the other side is, God knows, evil,” super Ismet Prestreshi told The News. “Very quiet guy, friendly. He’s such a friendly guy, every time I met him. He never called me for any complaints. Unbelievable.”
According to the super, the suspect tended bar in Bay Ridge.
Corona was arrested Thursday and held without bail a day later in Manhattan Criminal Court, with court documents detailing his confession to killing Gonzalez after a fight.
Authorities said the killer asked Gonzalez if he was a member of the Latin Kings gang before stabbing him so fiercely that the broken knife blade remained stuck in his chest when police arrived.
The stabber left the knife’s black handle on the sidewalk as he fled. Police sources indicated Gonzalez had no street gang affiliation.
Gonzalez, a medical assistant at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia, was killed as he walked home from a night of dancing at the popular neighborhood hangout Orbit.
His friends were stunned by the savage killing, insisting the victim was no troublemaker and steered clear of drugs or any neighborhood beefs.
But justice in his death came slowly. In 2014, police discovered DNA left at the scene belonged to Corona. The next year, that same genetic match was made with the knife — but no arrest was made.
A man busted in an unrelated incident fed police information in 2016 about Corona’s role in Gonzalez’s slaying, sources said. Yet it took another six years to make an arrest — a delay a police spokesperson attributed to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
“They [police] were waiting for the DA’s office to give the green light,” the police spokesperson said.
A spokesperson from the Manhattan DA’s office told The News that “additional investigative steps were needed in addition to DNA evidence.”
Fernando Mateo, founder of the New York City Federation of Taxi Drivers and one of those who called for an arrest during a 2010 rally on Gonzalez’s behalf, hailed the long-delayed capture of the suspect.
“It’s never too late to get justice,” he said. “I’m sure that for this family the loss of their child happened yesterday and for them to get closure, even 12 years later, it’s closure. I’m pleased to see that the NYPD did not put the case in a folder and forgot about it.”
The victim’s mother said she would not comment on the murder suspect.
“I don’t know the guy who killed my son,” said Alicia Gonzalez. “We don’t know him or how he looks like. I have nothing to say about him.”