Huntington, NY - June 20, 2017 - A Suffolk jury has convicted a Huntington Station man of second degree murder in the death of a young woman found slain in the Froehlich Farm Nature Preserve in October of 2013, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
The trial of Fernando Romualdo, 29, began June 5.
Romualdo was in state prison serving a sentence for raping a juvenile female when he was arrested for the murder of Sarah Strobel, a 2008 graduate of Whitman High School, on June 15 of last year.
DNA evidence collected from the victim’s body matched Romualdo’s DNA sample the defendant was required to provide for the state database after his rape conviction.
The body of Ms. Strobel, 23, was discovered by a hiker in the Huntington nature preserve on October 3, 2013.
“Today’s guilty verdict means this violent sexual predator will be behind bars for decades, and the sentence we will recommend will be the longest incarceration allowed under the law - 25 years to life in state prison,” District Attorney Spota said.
Romualdo will be sentenced August 1.