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Matthew Mercado, of Newburgh, was arraigned on Friday, Nov. 6, on charges including murder for the death of Jessica Lopez, a City of Newburgh woman, who was last seen on November 3, 2019, at the Windsor Motel in the Town of New Windsor, said Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler.
Mercado had previously been indicted on charges including burglary into room 32 of the Windsor Motel on November 3, 2019, at about 1:35 a.m., and stealing two bags from the three young women who had been sleeping in the room at the time.
Mercado has been continually incarcerated since his arrest on November 6, 2019, in connection with those charges, Hoovler said.
Hooverler sent the case of Lopez's murder to the grand jury to consider evidence in connection with her including that she had been staying with Mercado in room 33 of the Windsor Motel the night of Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, into the morning of Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019.
The Grand Jury indicted Mercado for murder in the second degree for intentionally killing Lopez in room 33 of the motel as she attempted to leave, Hoovler said.
He was also indicted by the grand jury on a separate count of murder in the second degree for having killed Lopez during the commission of a robbery or kidnapping, he said.
Other charges included two counts of grand larceny after he was shown that he allegedly used Lopez's bank card by removing $1,500 from her account at an ATM, the district attorney said.
He was also charged with three counts of tampering with physical evidence for allegedly removing Lopez's body from the room and placing in the trunk of her car when he then allegedly drove to an unknown location and concealed the body, Hoovler said.
Other counts include:
- Tampering with evidence for removing her cell phone and deleting text messages.
- Burglary for breaking into room 32 and stealing bags from the three women.
- Criminal impersonation for that telling the young women that he would not give their bags back and that he was an undercover police officer.
Bail was set in the amount of $1 million dollars cash, or $3 million dollars secured bond, or $10-million dollars partially secured bond.
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