21-Year-Old Cold Case Murder Solved
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced that Raul Ayala, 51, of Georgia, was indicted for Murder in the First Degree and other related charges, for the brutal 2003 murder of 88-year-old Edna “Timmie” Schubert in her North Bay Shore home.
“This indictment demonstrates that justice has no expiration date. Through the relentless dedication of our retired and active law enforcement officers, coupled with advances in forensic technology, we were able to charge this defendant for the brutal murder of Edna Schubert which has haunted Suffolk County for over two decades,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Mrs. Schubert was a beloved friend to many and whose life was tragically cut short in an act of senseless violence. I thank the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Section, Identification Section, and the Suffolk County Crime Lab for their hard work in getting us closer to bringing her alleged killer to justice.”
“Decades after Edna Shubert was senselessly murdered during a brutal attack in her own home, her perpetrator was finally identified and arrested, due to the unrelenting efforts of Homicide Squad detectives,” said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina. “Let this case serve as evidence that no matter how much time passes, we will never stop working for victims. I want to thank the Homicide Squad, Identification Section, the Suffolk County Crime Lab and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for this collaborative effort."
According to the investigation, on December 12, 2003, neighbors discovered Schubert’s body in her bedroom after noticing that one of her windows was shattered and that her front door was ajar. Schubert, a widow who was beloved by her neighbors, had been viciously beaten to death.
During the initial investigation, detectives extensively documented the scene and preserved fingerprint and blood evidence throughout the home. Despite extensive investigative efforts by the Suffolk County Police Department, the case went cold.
The breakthrough came in 2023 when retired Suffolk County Police Department Detective Pasquale Albergo, who never stopped thinking about the case, contacted the Suffolk County Homicide Section with the hopes that advances in technology could help solve the murder of Shubert, a case that he never forgot. Homicide Detective Brendan O’Hara took up the cold case investigation and collaborated with retired fingerprint expert Detective Timothy Kelly. Detective Kelly compared fingerprints from the crime scene to Ayala’s fingerprints and determined that they were a match. At the time of Shubert’s murder, Ayala allegedly lived less than 200 yards away from Schubert’s home.
Further investigation focused on previously untested blood evidence found at the crime scene. DNA analysis of stains on Shubert’s pantyhose and a white long-sleeved shirt revealed a mixture of Schubert’s DNA and an unknown individual.
An investigation into Ayala began and law enforcement learned that Ayala was still alive and living in Talmo, Georgia. In August 2024, members of the Suffolk County Police Department traveled to Georgia to conduct surveillance on Ayala to collect discarded items from him for laboratory analysis to compare to DNA recovered on Shubert’s clothing.
Law enforcement secured multiple items that Ayala was allegedly observed discarding includingmultiple lottery scratch-off cards and plastic bottles.
Those items were brought back to New York and submitted to the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory for analysis. DNA from one of the bottles that Ayala allegedly discarded matched the unknown DNA found mixed with Shubert’s DNA from her clothing at the scene.
On January 16, 2025, Ayala was arrested in Talmo, Georgia, by members of the Suffolk County Police Department with assistance from local law enforcement in Georgia.
On February 7, 2025, Ayala was arraigned on the indictment before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz, for one count of Murder in the First Degree, a Class A felony, and two counts of Murder in the Second Degree, Class A felonies. Justice Horowitz ordered Ayala held without
bail during the pendency of the case. Ayala is due back in court on March 5, 2025, and faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the top count. He is being represented by Christopher Gioe, Esq.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Eric S. Aboulafia of the Homicide Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by retired Detectives Brendan O’Hara and Peter Barba of the Homicide Section, as well as retired Detective Timothy Kelly of the Identification Section. The case was originally investigated by retired Detectives Pasquale Albergo and now Detective Sgt. Donna Giordano, formerly of the Homicide Section.