N.J. Nanny Was Strangled, Drowned and Thrown in Lake on Morning Jog, as Suspect Is Arrested
A New Jersey man has been arrested for allegedly murdering a nanny whose body was found floating in the lake of a popular park last week.
On Sunday, Jorge Rios, 33, of Jersey City, was arrested and accused of raping and murdering 45-year-old Carolina Cano, also of Jersey City, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced on Twitter.
Rios allegedly strangled Cano — who was out for her morning run — and held her under the water in the lake at Lincoln Park, a popular gathering spot in the city, the prosecutor said in a statement after his arrest.
He is charged with murder, felony murder, aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping.
He is being held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny. He has not yet entered a plea and it’s unclear if he has an attorney to comment on his behalf.
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The crime came to light on March 24, when the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a “possible body” found in Lincoln Park, the prosecutor said in the statement. Cano had not been in the water for long, say authorities, NJ.com reports.
Cano’s friends grew worried about her when the Lima, Peru, native failed to show up for church Sunday morning, which she rarely missed, local station CBS New York reports.
“They realized something was wrong when she didn’t show up to the church,” neighbor Frankie Ramos told local station WABC-TV. “She never missed a day. Everybody was looking for her, you know. Desperately.”
Cano lived near the park and went jogging every morning before church or before her job as a nanny in Paterson, WABC-TV reports.
Surveillance camera footage showed Cano entering the park by herself between 5:45 a.m. and 5:50 a.m. and disappearing when she walked through a dimly lit area, ABC News reports.
Cano’s roommate said she left their apartment at about 5:30 a.m. for her run.
“She was a working woman, a good woman,” her roommate told NBC New York. “She didn’t bother anyone. She was a woman that was always with God, that’s how she lived. She was really a beautiful woman. She had a very beautiful heart.”
