MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A convicted killer and rapist serving a life sentence has been indicted on charges he raped, beat and strangled a pregnant mother of nine on the rooftop of a Harlem apartment building in 1998, prosecutors said Monday.
The grown children of murder victim Joyce Williams, who was 41 when she died, were present in court Monday to see John Price, 49, get hauled into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs and prison garb after a forensics match led prosecutors to him.
"He is a monster — that's what I call him," said Williams' eldest daughter, Joy Williams, 37. "Whatever he gets, he deserves."
Williams said she wanted Price to know her late mother was loved and dearly missed.
"She has family. She has people that cared about her and loved her," Williams added.
"I didn't give up. I knew in my heart of all hearts that one day there would be closure," said Joyce Williams' 30-year-old son Dwayne Williams.
Joyce Williams was nearly four-months pregnant when she was found "naked, punched and strangled" on the rooftop of a Wagner Houses building on July 9, 1998, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lederer said when Price was presented in court Monday.
Three months prior, prosecutors said Price raped and murdered a woman named Pamela Watson in the Bronx in a similar fashion and is serving up to live in prison.
His DNA — taken when he entered the prison system on the Watson murder — was matched to fingernail evidence in the Williams case when it was re-examined in November 2011.
Price is already serving a life sentence in an upstate prison for Watson's murder.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is a proponent of legislation that would see all convicted criminals required to give a DNA sample for submission to the state database. Price's indictment highlights the importance of having an all-inclusive DNA database, Vance said.
Price was not arraigned on the charges on Monday because he has not yet been assigned an attorney. He is due back in court on Thursday for a formal arraignment on the second-degree murder charge.
He faces an additional 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
