What to Know
- The body of a 45-year-old Jersey City woman was pulled last Sunday morning from a park lake about a block from where she lived
- She has been identified as Carolina Cano; her roommate told News 4 she went out around 5:30 a.m. and never came back
- Prosecutors said March 31 they had a suspect in custody in the attack
A man was charged Sunday with murder and kidnapping in the death of a nanny whose body was dumped in a New Jersey lake just a block from her home, prosecutors said.
Jorge Rios, 33, of Jersey City, was arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault, the Hudson County prosecutor said.
He was being held at Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had an attorney.
Carolina Cano, 45, of Jersey City, was found dead March 24 in the lake in Lincoln Park. Detectives don't believe she was in the water long.
She may have been strangled and dumped in the water, her roommate and law enforcement sources familiar with the case tell News 4.
Cano was wearing sneakers when she was found. Her roommate told News 4 that she went out to exercise around 5:30 a.m. and never came home.
"It has affected us so much because it happened so suddenly," the roommate said. "It didn't happen because she was sick, it happened from one moment to the next."
Cano's death has been ruled a homicide. Sources tell News 4 the medical examiner found marks consistent with strangulation around her neck, but those marks were not obvious when her body was first recovered.
Her roommate told News 4 that Cano's entire family lives in Peru and that she and they are absolutely devastated by her death.
"She was like family because I've known her since she was a little girl," the roommate said. She added that Cano didn't have a boyfriend and came to the U.S. alone; she worked as a nanny, possibly for a family in Passaic County.
"She was a working woman, a good woman," her roommate said. "She didn’t bother anyone. She was a woman that was always with God, that’s how she lived. She was really a beautiful woman. She had a very beautiful heart."
The lake where Cano was found is surrounded by running trails, roads and tennis courts.
