Jorge Rios admitted to authorities that he had killed Carolina Cano one week after her body was found in Jersey City’s Lincoln Park last year, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Patrick Arre said during a hearing this morning.
By Marc Bussanich/Hudson County View
Arre took about 10 minutes to recount some of the details, such as the investigative police work, that ultimately led to the arrest of Rios.
According to Arre, Rios was brought into the homicide unit of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office on Sunday, March 31, and after being read his Miranda rights in both English and Spanish – since he is an Honduran national – he admitted to raping the victim, strangling her, and then throwing her into a pond at Lincoln Park.
Arre proceeded to recount a statement that Rios had said to a friend that demonstrated Rios’ complete lack of remorse for his crime.
Rios apparently said to a friend soon after he committed the crime on Sunday, March 24:
“How much time do you think a person will get for killing someone?”
The friend replied, “I don’t know, life?”
Rios sat through the proceeding in handcuffs next to his attorney, Andre Vitale, who asked for a meeting next week to discuss the possibility of his client entering a plea deal.
The state’s assistant prosecutor, Najma Rana, agreed to the meeting. Arre then announced that a trial is currently scheduled for March.
In the wake of Ms. Cano’s death, there was initially criticism of the prosecutor’s office due to some delay in the release of the details surrounding her death.
She was murdered on March 24, but the HCPO did not announce the homicide until March 28.
At a meeting convened by Freeholder Bill O’Dea (D-2) and Jersey City Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey, which took place about one week after Cano’s body was discovered, County Prosecutor Esther Suarez noted that there isn’t always immediate physical evidence of how a person died and that the circumstances around the death have to be double and triple checked.
Also at that meeting, officials announced that additional CCTV cameras would be added to Lincoln Park.
In August, Hudson County officials hosted a press conference just a few feet away from where Cano’s body was discovered, touting the installation of seven blue light stations and 11 CCTV cameras.
