80°
Mika’s family attended the plea in Superior Court in Hackensack and finally saw justice for the brutal crime.
Sunday marks 28 years since 19-year-old Michele’s mother found her daughter’s body facedown on her bed, an eight-inch knife plunged into her back. Investigators said she had been sexually assaulted for several hours.
But a shoplifting arrest in 2005 and new DNA testing of semen found at the scene helped Detective Greg Kohles from Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli’s office crack it.
It then took intense legal maneuvering by Molinelli’s assistant prosecutors to secure a plea.
Since the statute of limitations for burglary and sexual assault expired, an aggravated manslaughter verdict at a trial would have freed Speziale.
“Given his defense of intoxication, that was a distinct possibility,” Molinelli said.
Prosecutors want a 30-year sentence for the felony murder conviction, but a judge has indicated it will likely be 25 years, with parole eligibility after 12 1/2 years.
The DNA sample was mandatory, and the match from the State Police lab sent Kohles back to Speziale, who “gave a partial confession stating that he remembered leaving the house and having blood on his clothes, but could not remember raping or stabbing her,” Molinelli said.
Speziale killed Mika eight months before New Jersey enacted the death penalty, which increased the sentence for murder to life with 30 years. After breaking a rear window, he rummaged through several rooms, then got a knife from the kitchen.
There were no signs of a struggle, Molinelli said, adding that the motive apparently was “pure sexual gratification.”
Sentencing is scheduled for April 1.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
