A Rye Brook man accused of strangling a woman to death in his bedroom told police she had threatened him with a knife and tried to rob him, according to court documents.
Hugo Soto-Diaz, 30, pleaded not guilty Wednesday, April 29, to charges of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in the death of Samantha Maldacker.
The 37-year-old Maldacker was found unconscious and without a pulse when Rye Brook police officers arrived at the Westview Avenue home shortly before 9 a.m. on March 30. A resident of the house had called 911 to report a struggle in the bedroom and hearing a woman yell ‘Get off me’, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Shumedja said at the arraignment.
Emergency responders were called and detected a pulse after inserting a breathing tube but Maldacker died at a hospital on April 4.
Detective Christian Delarosa noted red marks on both sides of Maldacker’s neck in his criminal complaint charging Soto-Diaz with attempted murder before she died. A grand jury indicted him on the elevated charges.
Soto-Diaz had not been able to make the $50,000 bail set in Rye Town Court. But Shumejda asked Westchester Judge Anne Bianchi to order him held without bail as a result of the murder charge. She cited his extensive ties to Guatemala, where he is from, and also that he fled police in recent years when they sought to arrest him. That case did not lead to a criminal conviction.
Defense lawyer Richard Ferrante argued for the bail to remain the same but Bianchi granted the prosecution’s request.
Ferrante had only recently been assigned to the case. He declined to discuss specifics, saying he had just begun reviewing evidence provided by prosecutors.
According to court documents, after Soto-Diaz told police Maldacker had a knife and was trying to rob him, he blamed his actions on substances, said he never meant to hurt Maldacker and asked how she was.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rye Brook man pleads not guilty in strangulation death of woman
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
