Oquendo trial set to begin
Ex- con accused of killing stepdaughter in 2015
TROY, N. Y .» Nearly two years after a 21- year-old girl went missing after leaving her job at a Lansingburgh restaurant, her former stepfather is set to face trial in her death.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Rensselaer County Court in the case against Johnny Oquendo, 39, who is charged with second degree murder, criminal obstruction of breathing and unlawful concealment of a human corpse in the death of Noel Alkaramla. Alkaramla’s nude body was found in a suitcase pulled from the Hudson River near the USS Slater in Albany on Dec .29,2015, more than a month after she disappeared after leaving work about 10 p.m. Nov. 21, 2015.
The only sign of Alkaramla after shewas captured that night on surveillance video while leaving work was some personal items found the next morning near her home in the area of Washington and 4th streets. A co- worker who told investigators they had given Alkaramla a ride to Oquendo’s apartment at 170 3rd St. is believed to have been the last person to see her alive.
A neighbor of Oquendo told investigators he heard loud arguing from Oquendo’s apartment the evening Alkaramla disappeared, followed by loud banging and screams. Another neighbor said they observed Oquendo a short time after that struggling to remove a large suitcase from his apartment.
During an autopsy, blood and semen was recovered from Alkaramla’s body that investigators said matched a profile on the state’s DNA database provided by Oquendo because he is a convicted felon. Oquendo served 16 years of a 25year prison sentence for robbery and assault before being released on parole in 2014.
Oquendo was ordered Aug. 5, 2016, by then-Rens-selaer County Court Judge Andrew Ceresia to provide a new DNA sample for investigators, with Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel
Abelove saying at the time the new sample was needed despite the match with the state database so authorities could maintain a chain of custody to ensure the accuracy of any match to the DNA found on Alkaramla’s body.
Oquendo has been held in the Rensselaer County jail on a parole violation since Dec. 4, 2016, after being identified as the prime suspect in the case based on a statement by Alkaramla’s fiancée, Sara Moore, that Alkaramla was supposed to meet Oquendo after leaving her job that night. Moore later killed herself, with her body found June 24 in her Troy home.