A Queens grand jury indicted a man for murder in a 1998 cold case strangulation of a still unidentified woman at an Astoria motel.
Jose Velasquez, 59, formerly of Astoria, was arraigned Jan. 15 on an indictment charging him with murder in the second degree and he was ordered held without bail.
According to the charges in the indictment and investigation, the unidentified female victim was between approximately 25 and 35 years old at the time of her death.
On Jan. 12, 1998, she was found deceased inside Room 119 of the Turf Motel located at 31-62 Broadway in Astoria. Her body was discovered under a mattress and inside the mattress box of the bed. She had a scarf tightly wrapped around her neck, according to the investigation. No forms of identification were found on the woman’s body.
The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in 1998 determined that the cause of death was ligature strangulation. At the time of the autopsy, evidence was collected and retained, including the victim’s underwear and scrapings and clippings of her fingernails.
At the request of Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s Cold Case Unit, the medical examiner’s office retested the DNA in May 2023. The OCME developed a profile of a potential suspect and linked the DNA under the victim’s fingernails and on her underwear to Velasquez.
In January 2025, the defendant was interviewed by members of the NYPD Cold Case Squad and denied ever having been to the Turf Motel. He was indicted by the grand jury on Jan. 12.
“For almost three decades, this female victim remained unidentified and without justice, but she was never forgotten,” Katz said. “The Cold Case Unit I created when I first took office exists for this very reason: to ensure that justice is not denied by time or anonymity. The defendant is accused of strangling the victim 28 years ago inside the Turf motel in Astoria.”
The DA’s office has routinely sought assistance identifying the victim in this matter via regular social media outreach requesting any information that could help advance the case.
“Every victim matters, and we are committed to holding offenders accountable, no matter how long it takes,” Katz said. “I thank members of my Cold Case Unit and our partners at the NYPD Cold Case Squad for their work on this case.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant remanded Velasquez into custody without bail and ordered him to return to court on March 6. Velasquez faces up to 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.
