Story by Ethan
On January 15th, 2026, the arrest of Jose Velasquez, age 59, was announced by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. Jose Velasquez was charged with second-degree Murder. The arrest and charges against Jose Velasquez were a result of an investigation handled by Detective Francis Noonan of the NYPD’s Cold Case Squad.
According to the Queens District Attorney’s Office, on January 12th, 1998, the victim, presumed to be between 25-35 years old, was found deceased in Astoria, New York, in room 119 at the Turf Motel on 31-62 14th Street. The victim’s body was discovered under the mattress inside the mattress box of the room’s bed with a scarf tied tightly around her neck. However no forms of identification were found on the victim’s body. Shortly after the body’s discovery the New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner had determined that the cause of death was ligature strangulation. Also collected from the victim’s body for evidence was her underwear and fingernail clippings. In May 2023 the Queens District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit requested that the medical examiner’s office retested the DNA from the collected evidence. DNA samples from under the victim’s fingernails and on her underwear linked her death to Jose Velasquez as a potential suspect. In January 2025 members from the NYPD’s Cold Case Squad interviewed Jose Velasquez where he denied ever being at the Turf Motel. A grand jury indicted the defendant on January 13th, 2026.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office stated that the charges against Jose Velasquez are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
