Cops busted a homeless man Tuesday in an 8-year-old cold case of a Bronx mom’s death from a stray bullet as she headed home with food for her children.
Jonathan Odenthal, 31, was charged with murder after a years-long search for the killer of Cindy Diaz, 48, who was two blocks from home when she was gunned down Jan. 6, 2017, around 5:30 p.m, on E. Tremont Ave. near Boston Road in West Farms, cops said.
Cindy Diaz
Obtained by NY Daily News Cindy Diaz was fatally shot by a stray bullet on Boston Road in the Bronx on Jan. 6, 2016.
Police believed Odenthal was aiming at a 19-year-old man standing near Diaz, who was grazed by a bullet and later showed up for treatment at Jacobi Medical Center. The bullet struck Diaz in the chest as she held a bag of fast food from a nearby McDonald’s. She died a short time later at St. Barnabas Hospital.
“It’s a travesty,” Angel Rosario, Diaz’s former longtime boyfriend and father of her four children told the Daily News at the time . “And all for nothing. She was an innocent person. All she was doing was getting food for her kids.”
Odenthal’s arraignment at Bronx Criminal Court was pending Tuesday night.
“She was the greatest mother,” Rosario said, noting her childrens’ high marks at St. Raymond High School for Boys. “She was loving, caring and would give anything for anyone.”
Police had offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
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