Crime & Safety

Asst. DA: Murder Suspect Admits to Raping, Strangling Victim

The suspect, from Guatamala, has no green card; ADA calls it a "brutal" crime.

A man has been charged with murder after Mirian Garcia, 29, was found dead last week behind the Department of Motor Vehicles in Riverhead allegedly strangled her with a belt after raping her.

Suffolk County homicide detectives arrested Guillermo Alfonso Alvarado-Ajcuc, 21, of Riverhead for the  on Wednesday at approximately 6 p.m. 

Alvarado-Ajcuc, a Guatamalan resident who is in the United States without a green card, was charged with one count of murder in the second degree and rape in the first degree. He was held overnight before his arraignment at the Riverhead Town Court Thursday morning.

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Garcia, of Flanders, was found dead at a Riverhead shopping center on May 7. The Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner determined the woman’s death was a homicide.

Thursday morning, assistant district attorney Glenn Kurtzrock said Alvarado-Ajcuc gave a full confession stating that on the night of May 6, during the course of raping Garcia, he strangled her with a belt.

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Alvarado-Ajcuc, wearing a brown shirt and jeans, spoke through an intepreter and told Justice Allen Smith that he lives with his father, a day laborer who works in landscaping, in Riverhead, and has been living in the United States for four years. He is not a United States citizen, he said.

"This is a very serious charge," Smith said.

Due to the nature of the charge, no bail was set and the defendant was remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional facility. He is represented by Riverhead attorney Eileen Powers, who said she will be entering a plea of not guilty and request a jury trial. The case was adjourned until May 22.

The defendant faces 25 years to life on the murder charge, Kurtzrock said. "Obviously, it's a brutal crime," he said. "The Suffolk County Police Department's homicide squad worked very hard and was able to apprehend the defendant."


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