Man in 1996 Howard Beach rape sentenced thanks to DNA ‘Cold Hit’

A Woodside man who at one time was a New York City police officer has been sentenced to up to 16 years in prison for the 1996 rape of a 21-year-old woman in her Howard Beach home. He had been apprehended in February 2006 as a result of a DNA “Cold Hit.”
“The defendant who had escaped justice for nearly a decade has now been punished for his crime,”?said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “The defendant was apprehended when a DNA sample he provided in connection with an unrelated prosecution was positively matched to DNA evidence obtained from his earlier victim’s rape kit. The use of DNA is an important law enforcement tool that proves the adage, ‘You can run but you can’t hide’.”
Ronald Murgo Jr., 38, of Crescent Street in Woodside, is a former police officer assigned to the 67th Precinct in Brooklyn. He was terminated in 1995 and now works in construction, according to the DA.
He pleaded guilty in January to first-degree rape before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron who imposed the indeterminate sentence of 8-16 years in prison.
According to the charges, Murgo broke into the residence of a then-21-year-old Howard Beach woman at approximately 3 a.m. on November 6, 1996, through a first-floor back window. The defendant then jumped on the victim’s bed and, tying his victim’s hands with her own bra, placed a pillow over her head and told her to be quiet before sexually abusing and raping her. Murgo then stole jewelry and removed cash from the victim’s wallet before fleeing out the front door.
According to the District Attorney, the victim immediately called 9-1-1. She was treated at a local Queens hospital and interviewed by detectives who submitted a rape kit for DNA testing.
Under the John Doe Indictment Project – a 2003 citywide initiative that uses DNA profiles of unidentified sex criminals to indict them even before they are apprehended to prevent their escape from prosecution due to the expiration of the statute of limitations – a Queens County Grand Jury indicted the defendant as John Doe in February 2006.