Little Neck murder is linked to rape

Five people from Great Neck are facing charges ranging from murder to evidence tampering in the 2007 Christmas-night killing of a Little Neck pizzeria worker - less than a year after one of them copped a plea for a 2006 rape and robbery just blocks from the murder scene - and was deported to El Salvador, after serving less than six months in jail.
Balmore Rodriguez, 21; his brother Jose Oswaldo Rodriguez, 19 and nephew Santos Rodriguez, 19 - all of 63 Allen Drive in Great Neck are accused of murdering 35-year-old Little Neck resident Domingo Hernandez.
Sixteen-year-old Rosana Juarez Avalos is charged with manslaughter for her role in the incident.
An unresponsive Hernandez was found lying face up in a pool of blood on the morning of December 26, in the handball court of Admiral Park, a playground across the street from P.S. 94 in Little Neck.
He had been stabbed in the torso, slashed and bludgeoned in the face and was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to Queens DA Richard A. Brown, Avalos phoned Hernandez at about 10:30 Christmas night. After a conversation described by the victim’s roommates as “flirtatious,” he left their apartment at 251-20 Northern Boulevard, to meet her.
Avalos allegedly lured Hernandez to the park, which is four blocks from the victim’s apartment, where the trio lay in wait.
Brown alleges that they beat and stabbed the victim, then fled with the girl, who is being tried as an adult. The men are charged with murder and weapons possession.
The all four defendants were all denied bail and remanded to jail after their arraignments. According to a source close to the investigation, “The victim and the [alleged] perpetrators are all from the same village in El Salvador. He was just a working man. They are [allegedly] MS-13 gang members.”
Balmore Rodriguez is also charged with tampering with evidence, as is Adelfa Rodriguez, 28, who also gave the Allen Drive address.
According to Brown, she allegedly assisted Balmore in disposing of his bloody clothing, and threatened a witness to that event, saying that she “would cause serious physical injury to said person.”
Adelfa Rodriquez has been in jail since her arraignment on January 24, unable to post the $100,000 bail set by Judge Mary O’Donoghue.
On June 15, 2006, “Jose R. Rodriguez” was arrested and charged in the June 14 rape and robbery of a “young mother” behind the now-demolished Patrick’s Pub, which had been located at 252-12 Northern Boulevard in Little Neck.
It was alleged in published reports citing the DA that Rodriguez, approached the victim and “put a knife to the woman’s throat and forced her into the building, where he raped and sodomized her.”
The reports also quote police as saying, “The suspect then took $200 from the victim before he fled.”
A spokesperson at the DA’s office confirmed that Balmore Rodriguez, one of the accused murderers of Domingo Hernandez, was in fact the defendant in the 2006 case and had been charged with “Rape, Sodomy [Criminal Sexual Contact] and Robbery, all in the first degree.” His bail had been set at $250,000.
A police source close to the investigation said that “the victim was an illegal immigrant and went back to her country, so the case fell apart.”
On January 11, 2007, Rodriguez, who had been in jail since his arrest, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to time served. If convicted of rape, he would have faced up to 25 years in prison.
Rodriguez was handed over to immigration authorities and deported to El Salvador in April. “He lost no time getting right back here,” said the source.
Scott Dufault, the attorney in the 2006 case, told The Queens Courier that he is not representing Balmore Rodriguez now. He said that he could not recall the details of his case.
The murder victim shared an apartment with several other men, which is located around the corner from where the 2006 rape took place. When asked if there was a direct connection between the two crimes, the source said, “We definitely believe so.”