Thread: Kingston NY: Murder suspect admits killing girlfriend

Murder suspect admits killing girlfriend
By Mary Fairchild, Freeman staff
08/02/2007

Kingston - The man accused of killing Kingston resident Irma Vega Soto and dumping her body in East Kingston last fall pleaded guilty on Wednesday to second-degree murder.

Juan Alberto Rodriguez Santos, 28, of 93 Prospect St., Kingston, entered his plea in Ulster County Court before Judge J. Michael Bruhn. Rodriguez is to be sentenced on Sept. 27 and faces a maximum term of 20 years to life in state prison, according to Ulster County District Attorney Donald A. Williams.

Vega, 29, who was Rodriguez's girlfriend, was stabbed to death on Oct. 6, 2006, and her body was left near John Street in East Kingston. The body was found Oct. 8, and Rodriguez was arrested Oct. 9.

Rodriguez was indicted for second-degree murder on Nov. 22 by an Ulster County grand jury.

Police said at the time that Rodriguez stabbed Vega repeatedly as she tried to break up with him. They said the attack occurred near where Vega's body and some of her personal belongings were found two days later by two girls riding all-terrain vehicles.

An autopsy confirmed Vega died of multiple stab wounds.

Police have said that after Vega was killed, Rodriguez drove down U.S. Route 9W to Newburgh, then continued south to Cape May, N.J., where he abandoned his car. He took a bus back to Kingston on Oct. 9, police said, and was arrested near his home about 2 p.m. that day.

Town of Ulster Police Chief Paul Watzka said Rodriguez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, came back to Kingston to contact some friends, possibly about finding a way out of the country.

Williams said Rodriguez cleaned the car and removed the plates before abandoning the vehicle but that Vega's blood was found inside.

In Newburgh, police found a shirt and the kitchen knife they believed was used in the stabbing. Rodriguez's cell phone was found in Port Ewen, police said.

"It was excellent police work on the part of everyone involved," Watzka said on Wednesday.

State police at Ulster and city of Kingston assisted in the investigation.

Vega, of 666 Broadway, Kingston, was last seen about 11:45 a.m. Oct. 6 at Kings Mall in the town of Ulster and was reported missing later that day after she failed to show up for work and failed to meet her three children when they got home from school.

"By all accounts, Irma Vega Soto was a gentle, hard-working, dedicated mother who was caught in a cycle of domestic violence that tragically resulted in her death," Williams said on Wednesday.

Vega filed a complaint against Rodriguez with the Kingston Police Department in September 2004, alleging he had a knife and had threatened to kill her and harm himself. Rodriguez was charged with misdemeanor menacing and possession of a weapon in that incident, but the charges later were dismissed.

Vega also got an order of protection against Rodriguez, but it expired on Sept. 21, 2005, and she did not seek to renew it.

Being an illegal immigrant, Rodriguez stands to be deported when he gets out of prison. Vega also was in the United States illegally.

Of getting the guilty plea in the murder case, Williams said: "We are happy that the case was resolved this way, rather than putting the Ms. Vega's family through the ordeal of a trial."

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