A Jamaica Hills man, who was dubbed “The Ghostface Rapist” after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at knifepoint, is being held without bail after he was hauled before a judge on Thursday.
Rody Morales Cu, 20, of 165th Street, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with rape in the first degree and sexual abuse in the first degree.
According to the complaint, at around 3 a.m. on Friday, April 11, Morales Cu was on a residential block near the intersection of 162nd Street and 89th Avenue in Jamaica when he approached a 50-year-old woman from behind, grabbed her and placed a knife against the side of her body, while demanding that she be quiet.
The victim somehow managed to access her cell phone and send a message to a relative before Morales Cu snatched her cell phone, pushed her to the ground and forcibly raped her.
The woman’s relative told a detective from the Queens Special Victims Squad that she received the call, arrived at the scene, and saw a man on top of the victim, thrusting and began screaming for help, according to the criminal complaint.
Morales Cu heard the screams and ran off southbound on 89th Avenue toward Jamaica Avenue. Police from the 103rd Precinct found the victim and her relative on the street shortly after the attack. EMS transported the woman to an area hospital, where she was listed in stable condition.
The surveillance images of the suspect wearing a distinctive gray “Ghostface” sweatshirt depicting the knife-wielding killer from the horror movie “Scream,” was released by the NYPD shortly after.
Detective George Allen of the Queens Special Victims Squad, who led the investigation, viewed video surveillance footage that tracked the suspect from the crime scene to 160th Street and 90th Avenue, where he removed a black facemask showing his face while wearing the “Ghostface Killer” sweatshirt before he discarded the items and fled the location.
The detective recovered and reviewed video surveillance from more than a half-dozen locations that showed the suspect running from the crime scene, crossing over Hillside Avenue, and entering his residence on 165th Street near Clinton Terrace in Jamaica Hills.
Police went to the home on the night of Tuesday, April 15, where Detective Allen recognized Morales Cu as the suspect from the videos and took him into custody.
He was booked at the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills, where he admitted to having sexual intercourse with the victim. When he was shown still images from the surveillance videos, both masked and unmasked, Morales Cu admitted the individual was him, according to the criminal complaint.
“Rody Morales Cu is accused of accosting a stranger on a Jamaica street in the early morning hours of April 11 and then raping her,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “The brave survivor called a relative, who quickly came to the scene and scared the defendant away.”
Queens Criminal Court Judge Glenda Hernandez remanded Morales Cu into custody without bail.
“I thank our partners at the NYPD for quickly apprehending the suspect and the survivor for coming forward,” Katz said. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
