Man Charged With Causing Death Of Long Island Woman Found In Wooded Area

A man has been arrested for causing the death of a woman whose body was found in a wooded area of Long Island over the summer.

Winding Path in Manorville.
Photo Credit: *Google Maps street view*

Joe Lombardi

10/02/2020 7:20 a.m.

The body of 37-year-old Manorville resident Carmelina Maria Velasquez-Zhau was discovered in Manorville on Thursday, July 30.

A home health aide, who was visiting a resident of Villas at North Pine Hills, was jogging when he discovered the body on the ground in a wooded area just east of Winding Path late that morning.

The cause of death was determined to be strangulation.

Late Thursday night, Oct. 1, Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives charged Faustino Marquez-Cruz, 27, who resided at the same address as the victim, with second-degree murder.

He was held overnight at the Seventh Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Friday, Oct. 2.

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