Man Charged With Murder Of Woman Found In Manorville Woods: Cops

MANORVILLE, NY — A man has been charged with murder after a woman's body was found in a wooded area in Manorville in July, police said.

On Thursday, Suffolk County Police homicide squad detectives arrested Faustino Marquez-Cruz, 27, and charged him with second degree murder in the death of Carmelina Maria Velasquez-Zhau, 37, of Wading River Road in Manorville, police said.

Velasquez-Zhau's cause of death was strangulation, police said. The two lived at the same address, police said.

Her body was found in a wooded area east of Winding Path in Manorville on July 30 at 10:43 a.m., police said. A home health aide who was visiting a resident of Villas at North Pine Hills was jogging when he discovered her body and called 911, police said.

Marquez-Cruz was held overnight at the Seventh Precinct and was scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Friday.