Suitcase allowed into evidence
Prosecution may wrap up case today in Troy murder trial
Jurors deciding the fate of a Troy man accused of killing his former stepdaughter, stuffing her body in a suitcase and dumping it in the Hudson River will soon be able to see that suitcase, as well as other evidence recovered from the suitcase.
After two extended afternoon breaks, state Supreme Court Judge Andrew Ceresia ruled the suitcase would be admitted as evidence against Johnny Oquendo, who is charged with second-degree murder, criminal obstruction of breathing and unlawful concealment of a human course in the death of 21-year-old Noel Alkaramla. Ceresia also admitted into evidence two pieces of a plastic grocery bag found around Alkaramla’s neck when her body was recovered from the suitcase after it was pulled from the river near the USS Slater in Albany on Dec. 29, 2015, more than a month after she disappeared after leaving work about 9 p.m. Nov. 21, 2015, from Verdile’s restaurant in Lansingburgh.
Ceresia, however, rejected what prosecutors believe to be the broken handle of the suitcase, saying prosecutor Andrew Botts of the
Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office failed to offer reasonable assurance that the handle did indeed come from the suitcase.
Prosecutors allege Oquendo beat and suffocated Alkaramla in his apartment at 170 3rd St., then stuffed her body into a suitcase that he subsequently wheeled to Riverfront Park and dumped into the river.
Ceresia started the day in court Monday by handing the defense a victory, as he refused to allow jurors to hear a recorded statement made by Oquendo during interrogation by city police in 2015. Ceresia ruled police violated Oquendo’s rights when they suggested in a question that he knew something about Alkaramla’s disappearance before reading him his Miranda rights.
Testimony began Monday morning with Mallory Gage, a former state police forensic scientist who began her testimony last week about performing DNA tests on evidence, including the grocery bag and hair found inside the suitcase when it was pulled from the river. Gage said testing on the bag was inconclusive, while DNA recovered from under her fingernails matched two people, but neither could be positively identified.
After Ceresia ruled to allow the suitcase into evidence, Kimberly Cooney, former public safety dispatch supervisor at Russell Sage College in downtown Troy, testified about roughly three hours of video footage near Division Street and a nearby alleyway from Nov.. 22, 2015, that she provided to city police at their request. Jurors were shown about three minutes of that video footage, which shows a person prosecutors claim is Oquendo pulling a heavy item behind them.
The trial is expected to resume Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., with the prosecution expected to wrap up its case.