A 66-year-old Bronx man has been indicted in the 1996 strangling death of a pregnant woman, thanks to forensics that recently matched his DNA to DNA found under her fingernails, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Gregory Fleetwood, whose last known address was on Laconia Avenue, was arraigned earlier this week on a second-degree murder charge in the Feb. 5, 1996 death of 36-year-old Jasmine Porter in her Morris Heights apartment on Davidson Avenue. Fleetwood allegedly choked Porter to death, prosecutors say.
Her 5-year-old son was in the home alone with her body for two days before it was discovered.
DNA was recovered from under Porter's fingernails as part of the investigation and the evidence match came recently, thanks to technology that wasn't available at the time the young mother -- and mother-to-be -- was killed.
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"Forensic experts were able to match the DNA from the defendant with the victim who was strangled and killed in her home with her 5-year-old son present," Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement announcing the arraignment. "Investigators never gave up on getting justice for her, and her alleged killer is now being held accountable."
Fleetwood, who had a previous conviction for strangling another pregnant woman in the Bronx in 1987, was remanded after his arraignment and is due back in court next week. Information on his attorney wasn't immediately available.
