On April 11, prosecutors charged Jorge Rios, 33, with the rape and murder of a Jersey City woman while she was out for a predawn jog on March 24. The victim, Carolina Cano, was found floating in a lake in Lincoln Park shortly after being murdered.
Rios was deported from the United States in 2003 and 2004 but managed to get back into the country. According to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Newark office, Rios was deported to Honduras after crossing the border illegally near Laredo, Texas.
Investigators spotted Rios in surveillance video footage recorded at 5:10 a.m. near the south side of the lake where the victim’s body would eventually be found. Authorities said the suspect strangled Cano with a cellphone cord and then raped and drowned her.
He then walked over to a friend’s place and asked how much time he could get for murder.
Police said the suspect confessed during questioning. According to a criminal complaint obtained by the Post, the victim died “as a result of homicidal violence including strangulation and water submersion.”
According to the indictment, surveillance video shows the moments right before the attack when Cano was jogging on Lakeview Drive.
“The male observes the victim and proceeds to walk behind her. Upon approaching the football parking lot, the victim is seen running with the male running directly behind her,” an affidavit for Rio’s arrest said.
“The male is seen continuing south, stopping, turning to look behind him toward the victim, and then running in the same direction as the victim.”
The suspected rapist and murderer is then seen walking out of the park at 6:17 a.m. and going to a friend’s house nearby.
“How much time do you think a person would get for killing someone,” Rios asked his friend, according to the court documents.
The victim’s body was discovered in the lake at 7:30 a.m. the same morning.
Cano is a native of Peru.
The prosecutor’s office charged Rios with murder, aggravated sexual assault, and kidnapping. He was taken to Hudson County Correctional Facility after his arrest.
If convicted, Rios would be deported again, but only after serving his prison sentence. He faces up to a lifetime behind bars.
Rios is one of many illegal aliens charged with heinous crimes, confirming President Donald Trump’s assertion that the flow of illegal aliens across the southwest border poses a threat to the safety of American communities.
