Man Suspected Of Killing Cleaning Woman Held Without Bail

Joseph Pabon was denied bail after his arraignment on second-degree murder charges yesterday. Pabon is accused of killing Eridania Rodriguez, a cleaning woman who worked at lower Manhattan office building 2 Rector Street, where Pabon was a freight elevator operator. Pabon's lawyer said his client would plead not guilty and said of the police evidence, "I think there is a problem."

The NY Times says that the criminal complaint against Pabon says that "investigators found a mixture of DNA from a man and a woman under the fingernails of Ms. Rodriguez’s right hand"—the male DNA matches Pabon—plus "that Mr. Pabon changed his story about seeing Ms. Rodriguez the night she was killed. He initially told detectives that he had run into Ms. Rodriguez on the building’s fifth floor when he picked up her garbage, and that the two had said hello. But he later said he had never seen her that night, and that he had left work feeling sick about 9 p.m."

Defense lawyer Mario Gallucci, who said his client has been unwavering, thinks that the criminal complaint is lacking, because it doesn't explain who contributed to the female DNA; he said to the Staten Island Advance, "He was only the minor contributor to the DNA sample. There is somebody's DNA in the mixture." Gallucci also said that the scratches on Pabon's arms were "laughable" and maintained they were from moving or yard work.

Pabon's girlfriend, Lisa Blumenberg, is standing by her man. The Daily News reports, "Blumenberg appears to be the loyal type. Pabon has a previous arrest for allegedly choking her and smashing her car windshield with a bowling ball." However, the Post says, "Pabon's landlady wasn't as loyal. She said she listed his home for rent just hours after his arrest."