Official: DNA hit leads to indictment in '92 killing of Queens teen
DNA recovered from the fingernails of a 15-year-old Queens girl strangled to death in 1992 has led to the arrest and indictment of a Virginia man who was once her neighbor, officials said Monday.
Jerry Lewis, 58, of Shawsville, Virginia, was ordered held without bail Monday by a Queens State Supreme Court judge on a second-degree murder charge stemming from the strangulation death of Nadine Slade on May 7, 1992 at her home in Far Rockaway, Queens, District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
Katz said that her investigators and those with the NYPD revisited the cold case last year and asked that the city medical examiner test fingernail clippings preserved from Slade’s remains for DNA evidence.
“The test resulted in DNA evidence that linked Lewis to the crime,” said Katz, adding that numerous interviews and extensive searches of records contributed to the arrest.
As recounted by Katz and investigators, Lewis allegedly strangled Nadine with the victim's own bra. Nadine’s mother found her daughter in a bathroom shared by two apartments in their multifamily home, Katz said.
“Any mother’s nightmare is to survive a child,” Katz said. “To lose a child in such a horrific way causes unimaginable pain.”
Lewis and Nadine did not know each other. Katz didn’t specify how the two crossed paths the day the teenager died or when Lewis was taken into custody.
Defense attorney Russell Rothberg of Lynbrook said that he had just been assigned the case as part of a special homicide defense panel and couldn’t comment further. Rothberg noted that Lewis was ordered to be remanded after his arraignment Monday and was to next appear in court in June at which time the prosecution is expected to release its discovery material.
If convicted of the second-degree murder charge, Lewis faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
The Slade case is the latest in a number of New York City cold cases arrests or victims identified through forensic science. Last month, Christine Belusko of New Jersey was identified through genetic genealogy as the victim of a still-unsolved 1991 homicide on Staten Island.
Genetic genealogy and DNA testing has also been used in the Gilgo Beach killings and in 2020 lead to the identity of Valerie Mack as "Jane Doe No. 6." Additional forensic testing is underway to determine the identity of other unknown Gilgo victims.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.