New Rochelle Man Arrested In 1999 Killing Of 13-Year-Old Girl

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A notorious 22-year-old cold case, in which a missing 13-year-old girl was found strangled to death in a dumpster in Co-op City, has finally been closed with the arrest of a New Rochelle man in connection with the brutal crime, according to reports.

Minerliz Soriano was reported missing after leaving school — never making it to her home on Pelham Parkway in February of 1999. Her body was found bound and wrapped in a plastic bag inside a dumpster on Bartow Avenue near the Bay Plaza shopping center four days later.

"She left school at 2:20 p.m. and never made it home," Capt. John Creegan, the commander of the major crimes unit in the Bronx, told The New York Times in March of 1999.

The crime would go unsolved, but not forgotten by the NYPD for the next two decades.

Police arrested 49-year-old New Rochelle man Joseph Martinez on murder charges in connection with the unsolved homicide investigation, according to PIX 11 News.

Police told New York City ABC News-affiliate WABC that Martinez maintained a public life in the years since the killing and calls himself "Jupiter Joe." A YouTube video shows him teaching astronomy to schoolchildren, according to the report.

On the 22-year anniversary of her death earlier this year, Soriano's family told News 12 The Bronx that they hoped new scientific breakthroughs would lead to the capture of the person responsible for her death.

"We are suffering the murder of my daughter," Luis Soriano told the television station. "I want to pull out the thumb tack to my heart."

It appears the family's hopes were finally realized. Police said that DNA evidence led directly to Martinez's arrest on Monday.