Say He Stabbed, Threw Him Off Roof
A Queens grand jury has charged a 37-year-old Flushing man with second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing a male acquaintance and throwing him off the roof of an apartment building during a 1995 incident.
The suspect was identified by Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown the defendant as Andrew Caballero, 37, formerly of Kissena Boulevard in Flushing. Caballero was arraigned last Wednesday, Apr. 18, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter on an indictment charging him with one count of second-degree murder.
Caballero, who faces up to 25 years to life in prison, was ordered held on $350,000 cash bail or $750,000 bond and to return to court on June 21.
“Murder cases may grow cold but are never closed until justice is served,” Brown said. “Thanks to the determined efforts of police and prosecutors in this case and the emergence of new evidence that day has finally come -more than 17 years after the victim was brutally murdered. [Caballero] must now face the consequences of his alleged actions.”
According to the investigation, the victim-Jason Kollman, 21, of East Flushing-was with Caballero on the roof of the defendant’s Kissena Boulevard residence at ap- proximately 8 p.m. on Feb. 1, 1995, when Caballero stabbed Kollman several times about the neck, chest and back.
The suspect then allegedly pushed Kollman off the roof, causing him to land on a fifth-floor fire escape. The victim, who knew the defendant through Caballero’s girlfriend, was pronounced dead at approximately 11 p.m. by EMS personnel on the scene.
The investigation leading to Caballero’s arrest was conducted by Det. Robert Dewhurst of the NYPD Cold Case Squad.
Assistant District Attorneys Kerona K. Samuels of the District Attorney’s Homicide Investigations Bureau and Karen L. Ross, of the Homicide Trials Bureau are prosecuting the case under the supervision, respectively, of Assistant District Attorneys Peter T. Reese, Homicide Investigations Bureau chief, and Peter J. McCormack III, deputy bureau Chief, and Assistant District Attorneys Brad A. Leventhal, Homicides Trials Bureau chief, and Jack Warsawsky, deputy bureau chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.
It was noted that an indictment is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
