Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – A man serving time for murdering his girlfriend in D.C. in 2009 is now charged with murdering his estranged wife in 1989.
A grand jury indicted Jose Rodriguez-Cruz Oct. 7 for the 1989 murder of his estranged wife Marta Haydee Rodriguez.
Stafford County Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Olsen said Friday when Haydee Rodriguez disappeared thirty years ago, investigators suspected foul play, but there wasn’t enough evidence to file any charges.
Her body was found on a median of I-95 in 1991, but it wasn’t until 2018 when advances in DNA analysis became available that it was identified as that of Haydee Rodriguez.
In 2017 cold case detectives in Arlington County and the Virginia State Police started pursuing new leads in the case according to Olsen.
“It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment on the evidence that led to the conclusion that probable cause has been established to charged Mr. Rodriguez-Cruz,” Olsen said.
Rodriguez-Cruz has already been convicted of murdering his girlfriend Pamela Butler in 2009 and is serving a 12 year sentence in a West Virginia prison. Her body was also found along I-95.
Olsen said they have launched a detainer with the facility Cruz is being held in, and in the next few months they will be doing what’s necessary to bring him to Virginia to stand trial.
“I think it’s important, thirty years later to know that justice can be delivered,” Olsen said.
Olsen credits Pamela Butler’s brother Derrick Butler with pushing for the investigation and reminding investigators that Haydee Rodriguez may also have been killed by Rodriguez-Cruz.
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