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Cop Testifies About Finding Cleaning Woman's Body in Downtown Office

By DNAinfo Staff on March 3, 2012 3:08pm

Suspect Joseph Pabon in homicide of cleaning woman Eridania Rodriguez leaves his lawyers office 2550 Victory Blvd.
Suspect Joseph Pabon in homicide of cleaning woman Eridania Rodriguez leaves his lawyers office 2550 Victory Blvd.
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Ken Murray/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A cop testified in graphic detail Friday how she found the body of a murdered cleaning woman whose body was stuffed into an air duct in a downtown office building.

Officer Marisol Gerena was called off her post in the 23rd Precinct to help in the search for Eridania Rodriguez, 46, who went missing during her night shift at 2 Rector St. in July 2009. Office handyman Joseph Pabon, 27, of Staten Island is on trial for her murder.

"It was a very foul, putrid smell," Gerena testified, describing what led her to the air duct where she found Rodriguez's body. Gerena and three other police officers were then lead to a utility room on the floor where the smell grew stronger.

The air duct where Eridania Rodriguez was discovered murdered on July 11, 2009. Dried blood can be seen on the bottom right below the duct.
The air duct where Eridania Rodriguez was discovered murdered on July 11, 2009. Dried blood can be seen on the bottom right below the duct.
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Manhattan District Attorney's Office

Crime scene photos shown to jurors Friday showed Rodriguez tied up, her face unrecognizable. She had to be identified by dental records.

The graphic photos sent Rodriguez's daughter running from the courtroom.

"It's horrible," said inconsolable 20-year-old Yaniris Figuero.

Prosecutors say Pabon grabbed Rodriguez on an empty floor of the building and bound her hands with thick industrial duct tape before taping her mouth shut so tightly she suffocated to death.

She tried so hard to save herself that she scratched Pabon on his torso, neck and arms, leaving DNA from his skin cells were preserved underneath her fingernails, leading to the arrest and prosecution of her killer, the DA said.

A Crime Scene Unit detective Patrick Parke further described the find and what was found in Pabon's locker before his arrest.

"I recovered the pants from the locker and a roll of black and yellow tape that looked like the tape that was used to tie up the victim was found in one of the drawers to the right," Parke testified.

Pabon is charged with the murder and kidnapping of the Washington Heights mother of three, who was working part time cleaning offices.

He worked at the building as a handyman and porter and was allegedly seen acting suspiciously and frequently changing his shirts in surveillance video prosecutors plan to show at trial.

His attorney, Mario Gallucci, said Pabon was ill and his behavior was "consistent" with someone who was not feeling well.

He faces up to life in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to resume Monday.