Man reportedly confessed, had been charged with murder in ex-girlfriend's 2008 death
By Liz F. Kay and Justin Fenton
Baltimore Sun reporters
October 6, 2009
A Howard County man charged with the murder of a woman whose body was found floating in an underground cable vault under a Northeast Baltimore street Friday was pronounced dead Monday night after being found unresponsive in his jail cell, said a State Department of Corrections spokesman.
Mark Vernarelli, the spokesman, said the state medical examiner's office will conduct an autopsy on Victor Hernandez Cruz, 40, to determine the exact cause of death.
A Howard County homicide detective made a connection between the suspect and the victim while reading a newspaper account of the finding of the body; it may have solved the mystery of Elda Ardornio Vasquez, a 30-year-old Columbia woman missing since early 2008.
Detective Tom Lau contacted Baltimore police Saturday, after reading about a woman's body found floating in an underground cable vault Friday in the Mid-Govans neighborhood, according to charging documents. Lau recognized a house in the accompanying photo as the home of a man questioned after his girlfriend disappeared in Howard County.
City police interviewed Cruz, who had since moved to Columbia, and arrested him Sunday afternoon after he confessed to strangling Vasquez, police said.
Though the state medical examiner's office has not yet ruled Vasquez's death a homicide, Cruz had been charged with murder and assault based on the confession. Cruz, who police say entered the country illegally in 2001 and had since received a visa, was ordered held without bond.
Vasquez and Cruz worked at various Howard County restaurants and had lived together for two years before their relationship turned rocky, according to records. Vasquez was last seen leaving an Ellicott City restaurant in a taxi about 10:30 p.m. Jan. 22, 2008, according to news reports at the time.
A month earlier, she sought a protective order against Cruz, charging documents say. In her application for the order, Vasquez said she was leaving to get a ride with a co-worker when Cruz started yelling, "Where is she going, who is she cheating with?" Vasquez said Cruz grabbed her and dragged her by her dress, hit her and began choking her until witnesses called police. She told staff at the Howard County Domestic Violence Center that Cruz had threatened to kill her. A judge ordered Cruz to stay away from Vasquez for one year.
Vasquez's manager at the Red Robin restaurant in Columbia reported her missing the next month, after she had not shown up for work in two weeks. Nor had she reported to her second job at the Eggspectation restaurant in Ellicott City.
Howard County police pursued leads, including interviewing Cruz at police headquarters. They subpoenaed Cruz's cell phone records, which showed he had repeatedly called her in the weeks before she disappeared but not since Jan. 22.
But those leads apparently dried up.
When found Friday in the 500 block of Benninghaus Road, Vasquez was still wearing a work uniform, although her hands were missing and the body had begun to decompose, making it difficult to identify, according to the charging documents. However, co-workers recognized her gold necklace and eagle charm, the documents say.
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