Discovery of Four-Year-Old Girl Leads to Murder Charge

Cesar Ascarrunz, age 32 of Queens, has been charged with murdering his live-in girlfriend after her four year old daughter was found wandering the streets of New York. Four-year old Valery Lozada was found wandering barefoot in the streets and in an attempt to find her mother, child welfare officials put her on television in the hopes that it would produce more information about the whereabouts of Valery's mother. The child described her mother as looking "like a princess" and said that her "daddy had left her" on a corner. Ascarrunz also was charged with reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child, child abandonment and evidence tampering. If convicted on the murder charge, he faces 25 years to life in prison. Lozada-Rivaineira was last seen at the apartment she shared with Ascarrunz late on Sept. 24. Authorities said that Ascarrunz choked Lozada-Riviandeira to death in their apartment, put her body in a plastic bag and left it in the living room for two days. On Sept. 26, he took her body from the apartment and dumped it in a pile of trash on a Queens street corner. There is no apparent motive for this murder at this time.