Community Chat

[Ilene Wright]

The 20-year mystery of 'Baby Hope' — a four-year-old who was found dead inside a cooler on the Henry Hudson Parkway back in 1991 — was finally solved Saturday with the arrest of Conrado Juarez, a man who had been the young girl’s cousin. Baby Hope's real name was Anjelica Castillo, and her mother sent her to live with her father in a crowded apartment in Astoria, where she was mostly cared for by her aunt (Juarez's mother.) The New York Post reports that Juarez, who has been working as a dishwasher at Pesce Pasta on Bleecker, gave police a detailed confession during which he said he sexually assaulted and smothered Castillo after coming home drunk one night.

Jerry Giorgio, a former detective on the case who saw the confession, described the horrifying circumstances: "It was nighttime, and she was in the hallway for some reason — maybe she was going to the bathroom. He said he just took her by the hand and she went with him. She may at one point have started to yell or scream, looking for help. That’s when he put the pillow over her face." Worse still, a source told the Post that Juarez suggested it was Balvina Juarez, his now-deceased sister, who came up with the idea take the girl’s body by livery cab to Washington Heights.

Police were able to crack the case thanks to a tip from someone who this summer overheard a woman discussing her young sister going missing years ago. The first woman called police and, according to police commissioner Ray Kelly, the "tip produced a lot of investigative work, and with great detective work we were able to track people down and interview them." Previously, investigators were unable to figure out the girl’s identity because her mother, who has nine other children, never reported her missing.

Juarez was arraigned Saturday and ordered to be held without bail, despite complaints from his lawyer that he’d been questioned for nearly 14 hours without representation.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/10/sad-baby-hope-mystery-finally-solved.html