Judge Evelyn Reyes, of the Arecibo Court, found cause for trial against Lemuel Cruz Cruz, accused of the murder of Alexandra Cardona Torrado, in June 2020.
In the preliminary hearing, the judge admitted as evidence the recording of a conversation that the investigating agent, Alexis Camacho, had with the now wife of Lemuel Cruz Cruz, accused of murdering Alexandra Cardona Torrado in June 2020.
The victim was a friend of the suspect’s partner, Adriana Rivera Andújar. The woman married Cruz Cruz after the crime and has refused to testify.
In the audio, Rivera Andújar is heard saying that her husband was the one who murdered Cardona Torrado.
“I parked in front of her bus. He came, stood next to her, did that to her and shot her,” it is heard. “It was my husband. I told him… It was him, Lemuel Cruz Cruz,” says the woman.
Cruz Cruz was released after the 44-year-old man’s defense filed a “Habeas Corpus” appeal.
“He is outside but with electronic supervision, in lockdown, it is not that he is free as such,” confirmed prosecutor Liza Delgado González.
As he explained, as happens with every citizen, by constitutional provision, Cruz Cruz has the right to request his release if the trial has not been held within a period of six months. Delgado González explained that the delay in the judicial process is due to health situations of the defense and other court matters.
The woman refuses to testify, but the prosecution has a recording of her narrating everything that happened.
The woman witnessed the crime and refuses to testify.
The authorities arrested Rivera Andújar on June 2, 2022 in the state of Florida, appearing as a witness to Cardona’s murder, which occurred on June 24, 2020, in Arecibo.
In September of that year, the prosecution requested that the charges be filed, since the main witness -a friend of the victim- moved to the United States and refused to testify.
However, the case was reassigned to prosecutor Yamil Juarbe, who resumed the process and on April 22, 2022, cause was found for arrest in absentia, for the murder of Cardona Torrado, which occurred on San Pablo street in the San Rafael urbanization. .
The woman reportedly helped her friend, who was Cruz Cruz’s ex-partner.
