Suspect arrested in connection to Vanessa Marcotte murder case

MILLBURY, Mass. -- An arrest has been made in connection to the murder of 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte, CBS Boston reports.

Marcotte, a Google employee in New York, was visiting her mother in Princeton, Massachusetts, when she went jogging on the afternoon of Aug. 7, 2016. Her body was found naked and burned the following day just a half mile away from her mother’s home.

State police arrested 31-year-old Angelo Colon-Ortiz of Worchester at his residence on Friday. He has been charged with aggravated assault, aggravated assault and battery, and assault with intent to rape. Authorities say its likely that he’ll also face murder charges.

“We got him,” Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early, Jr. told reporters at a press conference Saturday afternoon, as relieved Princeton residents clapped at the announcement.

Early said in February that investigators used highly-specialized DNA technology to create a profile of the person of interest. Scientists at the private Parabon NanoLab crafted the profile, describing a 30-year-old Hispanic or Latino man with an athletic build and very short hair. A dark-colored SUV was also seen in the area by witnesses.

The information turned out to be vital. A state trooper noticed the SUV and wrote the license plate number down on his hand. He followed up by visiting Colon-Ortiz’s house where he obtained a voluntary DNA swab.

Early said DNA from a possible suspect was taken from Marcotte’s hands during her autopsy, and the DNA from Colon-Ortiz’s matched it.

“I anticipate there will be a murder charge,” Early said. “There’s some evidence we have that puts him in the area but we’re not comfortable disclosing that. This all came together rather quickly.”

Marcotte grew up in Leominster and was working as an account manager for Mountain View, California-based Google in New York. Law enforcement agencies have received more than 1,000 tips relating to the case.