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Strangulation

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Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. Photo from Tierney's office

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced on Sept. 22 that Rupert Cruz, 63, of Coram, was indicted for Predatory Sexual Assault, Rape, Sexual Abuse, and Strangulation, after he allegedly raped a woman to whom he had offered a ride home after being discharged from a hospital.

“This defendant allegedly preyed on the victim in order to violate her,” said District Attorney Tierney. “We will pursue justice for the victim by making sure her alleged attacker is held responsible and taken off the streets so he can no longer harm others.”

According to the investigation, Cruz allegedly met the 32-year-old victim in June 2023 while they were both patients at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson. When both Cruz and the victim were being discharged, Cruz offered the victim a ride home and she accepted. While the victim was in Cruz’s vehicle, he allegedly gave her a drink from an opened soda can.

Shortly after they left the hospital and while Cruz was still driving, Cruz allegedly began making sexual advances towards the victim, which she rejected. The victim’s friend called her during the time she was struggling with the defendant, and she could allegedly hear the victim screaming for help before the victim’s cell phone fell in between the seats of the vehicle.

Cruz allegedly picked the victim up from the passenger seat and forced her on top of him while he was still seated in the driver’s seat. The victim did not remember anything after that and woke up naked the following morning in a wooded area at Bartlett Pond Park in Middle Island. The victim was in pain, with scratches and bruises on her body, red marks on her neck, and broken blood vessels in her eye. The victim then located a few items of her clothing and left the park. The victim’s phone allegedly remained in Cruz’s vehicle until its battery died.

On June 15, 2023, the victim used a device finder through the Internet to locate her phone and allegedly traced it to Cruz’s residence in Coram. The victim reported the incident to the police, and Cruz was subsequently arrested on September 8, 2023.

On September 21, 2023, Cruz was arraigned on the indictment before County Court Judge, the Honorable Karen M. Wilutis, for the following charges:

  •   Predatory Sexual Assault in the First Degree, a Class A-II violent felony;
  •   Rape in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony;
  •   Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, a Class D violent felony; and
  •   Strangulation in the Second Degree, a Class D violent felony. 

    Judge Wilutis ordered that Cruz be remanded without bail during the pendency of the case. Cruz is due back in court on October 4, 2023, and he is being represented by the Legal Aid Society.

    This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Danielle Carter of the Major Crime Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detective Travis Pfeffer of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Sixth Squad.

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Michael Owen. Photo from NCPD

A St. James man has been found guilty of murdering his estranged wife in January 2020, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced on July 31. Michael Owen, 30, was convicted of second-degree murder after he strangled Kelly Owen to death at her South Farmingdale home on Jan. 15, 2020, the DA said. She was 27.

“Kelly Owen was a bright young mother who had aspirations to be a nurse,” Donnelly said in a news release. “She was in the early stages of pregnancy with her estranged husband’s child and wanted to reconcile the marriage. Michael Owen, however, ended those dreams when he strangled his wife with a rope-like object on January 2020. Our condolences are with Kelly’s family as they mourn her senseless loss.”

Kelly Owen was at her apartment on First Avenue in South Farmingdale the day she died. The nursing student lived on the same property as her parents and shared custody of her then-6-year-old child with her husband, Michael, from whom she was separated, prosecutors said. Kelly’s father walked the child to school that morning, investigators said.

Kelly, at the time, was working as an aide at an aftercare program at a local elementary school between 3 and 6 p.m. When she did not show up for work, a co-worker called her parents, and Kelly’s parents discovered their daughter’s lifeless body, officials said.

“[Michael Owen] did not want this child,” Detective Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick of the Nassau County Police Homicide Squad said at a news conference in January 2020. “He did not want to give her medical insurance. He had this new relationship that he was involved in, and he was in a bad position.”

Video surveillance showed Michael’s vehicle was in Kelly’s neighborhood at 9:30 a.m. the morning he killed her, prosecutors said. Michael, employed as a cell site technician, parked two blocks away from Kelly’s home and turned his phone off before arriving in South Farmingdale so that his cellphone location could not be tracked, authorities said. After strangling Kelly, Michael deleted text messages from both his phone and Kelly’s phone, the DA said.

Michael’s DNA was discovered around Kelly’s neck, officials said.

Michael Owens was arrested Jan. 28, 2020, and his trial started July 17, 2023. The jury deliberated for roughly two hours at the summations Thursday. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 19. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

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Francis Barrios mugshot from SCPD

Police arrested a homeless man for sexual assault on Tuesday night, after he allegedly attacked a taxi driver on a trip that started at a local hospital.

The Suffolk County Police Department said that the female cab driver picked up her passenger at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson that evening, but during the trip he assaulted her and the taxi crashed into a fence on Mount Sinai-Coram Road in Mount Sinai. The suspect, 34-year-old registered sex offender Francis Barrios, then sexually assaulted the driver.

Police did not release the name of the taxi company, to protect the identity of the victim.

Officers had initially responded to the crash scene when a passing motorist called 911, according to police, but the responders arrested Barrios after further investigation. He was charged with first-degree criminal sexual act, first-degree attempted rape, second-degree strangulation and third-degree assault.

Attorney information for Barrios was not immediately available and he could not be reached for comment. He was held overnight and scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.

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