Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Friday, Feb. 3, that a Florida man has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the strangulation murder of a Bronx woman in a Van Nest apartment in 2000. The cold case was solved in 2017 when DNA and a fingerprint from the crime scene were matched to him.

In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “The defendant killed a 19-year-old woman in December 2000 and her lifeless body was discovered by her mother. The defendant moved on and started a new life in Florida, but justice always catches up. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced today to 20 years to life in prison.”

Clark said the defendant, Christopher Gonzalez, 41, of Naples, Florida, was sentenced by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Martin Marcus to 20 years to life in prison. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Dec. 21, 2022.

According to the investigation, on Dec. 2, 2000, inside an apartment building on 1186 East 180th Street in the Van Nest neighborhood, the victim, Dora Del Valle, 19, was house-sitting for her uncle who was hospitalized at the time. The defendant, who lived blocks away from the victim, strangled her with a telephone cord, causing her death, officials said. The victim, who had been raped, was found dead by her family later that day, the court heard.

A fingerprint and significant DNA evidence collected at the scene was matched to the defendant in 2017, officials said. He was extradited from Florida on December 8, 2017, according to the prosecution. The DNA hit also matched the defendant to a 2005 cold case murder in Westchester County, officials said.

The case was prosecuted by Christine Scaccia, chief of the homicide bureau, under the supervision of James Brennan, deputy chief of the trial division, and Theresa Gottlieb, chief of the trial division. Clark thanked advocate, Ana Pimentel, of the crime victims assistance bureau for her assistance on the case.

The district attorney also thanked NYPD Detectives Malcolm Reiman (retired) and Matt McCrosson (retired) of the Bronx homicide unit, Detective Arthur Connelly (retired) of the NYPD latent print section, Investigator Eugene Donnelly from the New York State Police major crimes unit, and Detective Kevin O’Neill and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

Clark added, I thank the NYPD Detectives who never gave up on finding the person who killed Dora Del Valle, whose family has waited too long for closure, but I hope today they can take some comfort in this sentence.”