North Bergen Man Pleads In Spring Valley Slaying

NEW CITY, NY — A North Bergen, New Jersey man pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree manslaughter over a 2019 shooting death in Rockland County.

Jayden Rodriguez admitted that on Sept. 1, 2019, he entered a Spring Valley apartment
building and shot Emerson Jean-Baptiste, 20, who was found on the ground by police and pronounced dead at Nyack Hospital.

Rodriguez, then 17, was arrested two days later in New Jersey by Spring Valley and North Bergen police, and extradited to New York along with 20-year-old Paul Miller of Haverstraw, both arrested and charged with murder.

The firearm Rodriguez used was recovered in an unrelated matter several days later by the Haverstraw town Police Department, prosecutors said.

"This guilty plea will hopefully bring closure to our victim’s family and friends," Rockland District Attorney Thomas Walsh said. "My office has worked diligently with the Spring Valley Police Department to prosecute this case and ensure that the defendant be brought to justice. I commend the professionalism of all of our law enforcement agencies, working together to do just that. We must remember our victim, Emerson Jean-Baptiste lost his life at the hands of a killer.”

Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced July 19.

The matter was prosecuted by Executive Assistant District Attorney Stephen Moore.