DNA Links 1987 Killing to Ex-Con

Edwin Alcaide, 53, accused in murder of young woman
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 20, 2012 6:12 PM CDT
DNA Links 1987 Killing to Ex-Con
A stock image of DNA analysis.   (Shutterstock)

The brutal 1987 murder of a young woman in New York City may finally be cracked. DNA found under the fingernails of Lissette Torres has been matched to Edwin Alcaide, 53, an ex-con with a violent history who was an acquaintance of Lissette's then-boyfriend, reports DNAinfo.com. Lissette was a 19-year-old employee at a law firm in Brooklyn when her killer stabbed her to death on New Year's Day.

Eighteen months ago, the NYPD's Cold Case Squad reopened the case. The fingernail DNA led them to Alcaide, who was detained yesterday. Alcaide is a career felon with arrests for drugs, robbery, assault, and rape, dating back to the 1970's. Police had questioned him shortly after Lisette's murder, and let him go despite seeing scratches on his face. “I can now die in peace, knowing that my daughter now lies in peace,” Lissette's mother, 74, told the New York Daily News. (More Edwin Alcaide stories.)

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