DA Hoovler Announces Guilty Verdict in New Windsor Murder

NEW WINDSOR – Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Thursday, October 7, 2021, Luis Rondon, 50, of New Windsor, was convicted by a jury in Orange County Court of Murder in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree. The convictions were in connection with the bludgeoning death of a woman on October 7, 2019, inside her South Gate Village apartment, in New Windsor. The trial commenced before Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown on September 20th, 2021. Rondon, who was a peace officer and sergeant with the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority at the time of the murder, faces up to twenty-five years to life in prison on the charge with Murder in the Second Degree when he is sentenced on December 15, 2021.

Rondon was initially apprehended in California in connection with the charges and was remanded to the Orange County Jail without bail following the verdict.

At the trial, prosecutors argued that Rondon had killed the victim, who he knew through their association with the Society for Creative Anachronism, a Medieval Reenactment group by striking her repeatedly on the head with a recently purchased framing hammer, and then flew to California. Prosecutors argued that Rondon’s motive for killing the victim was that she had threatened to tell his wife about their relationship and that he feared losing his wife, his house and his pension from Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.

Rondon faces 25 years to Life in prison on the charge of Murder in the Second Degree.
District Attorney Hoovler thanked the Town of New Windsor Police Department and New York State Police for their investigation and the arrest of the defendant, as well the Orange County Sheriff’s Office who aided in the investigation.

District Attorney Hoovler highly commended Senior Assistant District Attorney Michael Milza and Assistant District Attorney Alexis Gregory who prosecuted the case.

“This was a particularly brutal murder that was made even more horrific by the fact that the victim was killed in her own home,” said District Attorney David Hoovler. “It is always disturbing when someone whose job is to promote public safety commits acts of senseless violence. This defendant deserves the maximum sentence that the law allows, and my office will recommend that he receives it. I thank the Town of New Windsor Police Department, the New York State Police and Orange County Sheriff’s Office for their actions on this case.

This criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.