NEW YORK – Nineteen years after a brutal murder, a suspect has been charged.  Angel Gurity, 51, (aka Angel Gurity Cabral), has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of a woman in March 1993.

Gurity was indicted by the grand jury in September 2010 on a single count of murder in the 2nd degree in the death of Altagracia Valdez, 24, whom he had been dating. According to the indictment, Gurity intentionally caused the decedent’s death by stabbing her multiple times with a knife.

Although the grand jury indicted Gurity nearly two years ago, the extradition process involving the United States Department of Justice, the U.S. State Department and the government of the Dominican Republic was not concluded until last week when Gurity was returned to the Bronx for trial.

Gurity was arraigned in State Supreme Court.  The judge ordered that he be held without bail. If convicted, Gurity would be facing a maximum sentence of up to life imprisonment.

The murder occurred in the Gerard Avenue apartment of the deceased where she was stabbed repeatedly in the neck and right shoulder. Police discovered the body when they responded to reports of an altercation in the apartment. The body was partially nude and appeared to have been sexually assaulted. The victim’s 7-month-old son was found unharmed in a bedroom.

Although forensic evidence was recovered at the time from swabs collected for the sexual assault kit, technology was not advanced enough to develop a DNA profile of a suspect.  In the Fall of 2007 the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner began an internal review of “cold cases” which included additional testing an analysis of DNA evidence. As a result of advances in DNA technology a full profile of a suspect in the 1993 homicide was developed and uploaded to the DNA databank. When the new forensic information linked Gurity to the 1993 homicide, the NYPD Cold Case Squad was notified and re-opened the investigation into Valdez’ death. Detectives Mark Tebbins and Anthony Padilla ultimately were led to the Dominican Republic where Gurity, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, had relocated.